Eligibility
by Anotherjaneway
Summary: A battle rages between Kelly and Gage for an opening captain's spot at Station 51. The very nature of sleep haunts the gang and their patients.


This is a text version of the original still airing imaged, music soundtracked story.

Emergency Theater Live, Episode Thirty

30. Eligibility Season Four- Episode 30 Short summary-  
A battle rages between Kelly and Gage for an opening captain's spot at Station 51. The very nature of sleep haunts the gang and their patients.

****WARNING**** The long summary to come is very story spoiling and will take away plot surprises if you read it now before reading the longer story below it.

Decide now if you want to read this episode's detailed summary before doing so.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Long Summary-  
The gang burns off a little stress by playing softball in the pouring rain.  
They tease Hank for not joining in. Marco tells everybody about Cap studying for the chief's exam and that starts a wager between Chet and Gage about who'll be winning his captain's spot upon his promotion.  
Joe and Dixie at Rampart start making plans for the annual Fireman's Ball. Station 51's called out to rescue an autistic boy caught in a heating vent grill.  
Brackett responds to a car fire at the ambulance entrance and treats a father for a heart attack and the daughter for head injuries after he learns she crashed the car into the wall by accident worrying over her dad.  
The gang suffers a tired Hank's bad mood at the lunch table and pranks die aborning when Cap overhears Chet calling him old. He immediately challenges Chet to a CPR contest on the manikins. A ring at the visitor's doorbell pulls everyone away to a walk-in-to-the-station cardiac call. That night, they discover Hank Stanley has acute sleep apnea symptoms and pull out all the stops to get him to some help for the problem. Gage gets a bad feeling and not long after, Station 51 gets a crib death baby call involving Karen Overstreet, the female paramedic trainee who saved Roy's life once on a fire scene with a defibrillator. The staff at Rampart spend time with Karen and her husband through a grieving process and so does Roy and Johnny. Hank is finally convinced to get sleep evaluated at Rampart. Days later, the gang learns Cap got a nose job to fix his apnea and that the captain's spot is unavailable for Gage's and Kelly's little competition for at least another year. The gang happily remembers Dixie's stunning evening gown worn the night before at the Ball and all of them smile but Cap, who sadly reported that he must have missed seeing it for taking a nap.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.  
. The Story Unfolds...

Season Four, Episode Thirty.  
Eligibility Debut Launch: February 1st, 2006.

-  
.com/group/emergencytheaterlive **ETL Writer's Preproduction List.

*Cut and paste any link that is highlight broken into your browser address bar and the link will function.

. Emergency Theater Live Homepage.

Click the TV set at the top of Emergency Theater Live's homepage to see the latest music soundtracked, imaged version of this episode after entering User ID 'efan' and Password 'frontrowseat' at the link above.

This version of the current episode is scene delayed as compared to the most recent submissions shown in the text only file coming up below.

You will need your Yahoo Email User ID and your Yahoo Email Password to access the file link below this sentence.

. **Location to the Complete Current Story

*  
From : patti keiper Sent : Friday, February 10, 2006 4:29 PM Subject : [EmergencyTheaterLive] The Little Wager...

Rec-time at Station 51 was in full swing...with a catch.

"You guys are all absolutely nuts, you know that?!" warbled Cap across folded arms from where he was leaning just inside of the ample curtain of rain falling from the lip of the rear garage door's opening. "I should have McConnikee come out here right now to see this to evaluate the whole lot of ya for sudden crisis behavioral changes. Stress is definitely playing a factor here."  
he chided, without an ounce of humor.

"What stress, Cap? We haven't had a run all day." said Stoker, grinning as he readjusted the blue hat on his head to deflect more of the lightningless shower threatening to drown out his line of view of homeplate by the old engine. "We're playing a little game. Softball to be exact. Even ol' Henry's getting into it. See?" he blinked through thick streams of cascading downpour. Stoker was soaked to the skin along with the rest of the gang, and grinning like a banshee. Mike pointed to the ample bellied bassett, who was rolling with pure doggy pleasure in a rapidly filling rain puddle with an out of play ball clenched firmly in his teeth.

"Ohmyg*d... Guys, he's rolling in pure mud!" Hank fretted like a cat spooked hen. "Who's gonna mop up all his paw tracks afterwards?"

"That's what fire hoses are for, Cap." Marco chuckled, opening his mouth to catch enough of the rain to fountain it out of his mouth again in childish pleasure. "They're real good for fast cleanups."

Hank just harrumphed low in his throat and took another step away from the open backyard doorway to avoid getting his shoes wet.

Gage got into needling Cap, too. "Yeah. We promise we'll open up the front doors and .....blast them all away into the street when we're done." he crowed absently, almost giddy from the ample downpour that was practically drowning him.

"Oh, and can you do that in thirty seconds after we get toned out...?" Cap shot back acidly, "Around both the fire trucks and everything?"

"Come on, Cap. Look..He's loving every second of it here. And so are we I might add. I feel at least, twenty years younger." smiled Roy, leaning up to the garbage can lid that was serving as a plate for his turn at bat. "Just think, it's the one kinda bath Henry'll take here without causing us a major battle." he grinned toothily, blinking away the warm rain's deluge.

Cap had a comment for that, too. "Oh no!" he quailed. "Now look at him, ya twits. He's rolling in the ash pile. He's gonna smell real good come the third inning. I oughta order you all back in here right now.." he threatened with a note of seriousness.

Chet, just grinned as he wiped away thick droplets of rain that were trickling into his eyes from his water flattened hair. "Aw, Cap. Don't go and spoil things for the rest of us just because you don't like to get wet without good reason. We can't help it if your dislike for fish and what they live in runs through ya like water.." he grinned at his own pun. "Why don't ya come out and join us?" Kelly challenged, pulling down his catcher's mask again over his face and spitting out a stream of mouth gathered rain.  
"Don't knock it unless you've tried it. It's great! Roy's right about feeling invigorated. I feel like a million--"

"Five minutes.." finger stabbed Cap. "Five minutes, and then it's back into the locker room for all of ya. I'll never live it down if we show up at some poor old lady's house on a kitten stuck in a tree call looking like a pack of drowned rats."

"I don't think a cat's really gonna go out into weather like this, Cap." Gage remarked honestly with a straight face. The others were trying to hide infectious sets of grins.

"Oh, you all know what I mean.. My order stands. Just make sure you obey it to the letter.." he growled. Then he disappeared into the bowels of the apparatus bay. Moments later, they heard the coffee pot jangling when Cap snatched it off the burner it was warming on to pour himself some.

The five firemen frolicking in the storm immediately got back into the thick of things and the current play in the game.

Chet smiled. "That was easy."

"It always is when Cap's had a bad night's sleep. All that wool muddling his brain conveniently gets in the way of his handling us during station downtime. Remember?  
You know he only gets sharp as a tack mentally during a fire or medical call on days he seems like that." chuckled Johnny.

Roy bit his lip. "I wonder why he's tired today... It's not like we were busy or anything last night. Not at all. I wouldn't count the three dumpster fires we responded to as having been very taxing."

"Cap? Tired?" Chet piped up, tossing his softball up and down into a testing catch in the rain. "Man.. Roy, he slept like a newborn babe last night. Didn't you hear how loud he sawed the wood around two am? And that was only about five seconds after his head hit the pillow. I think he was studying those mystery books of his again."

"What mystery books?" asked Marco.

"Don't be dense, Marco. You know what books. There's probably a chief's spot opening up at Headquarters and Cap's probably been trying to hide the fact that he's putting in for such a promotion from us by drilling from them whenever he thinks the rest of us are all still sleeping.."  
Kelly replied.

"Hey,.." Lopez looked up, puzzled. "I just thought of something else."

"What, Marco?" Roy asked.

"If Cap gets that white helmet spot he's supposedly going after, who'll get his skunker stripe spot here?" Lopez wondered.

There was a pause in the storm for a long, single beat.. Then..

Chet and Gage eyed each other in a new light of appraising competition instantly that had nothing to do with the storm sewer cover softball game.

Kelly smacked his rain wrinkled hand into his soggy ball glove. "You gonna go for it,  
too, Gagey boy?" he said, narrowing his eyes at Johnny and not looking away.

"Yeah,.. I think I will." Gage said, beginning to grin. "Let's put a ....friendly little wager on it there, Mr. Chester B. Kelly. And may the best man.....win."

Roy's eyes got real big. "Oh, boy. Talk about opening up your can of worms here."  
he said, looking from his far too serious partner looking back at an equally, pure ironized, Chet Kelly. "Uh, guys, you're just kidding about following through with all this becoming-a-captain stuff,....aren't you?"

The clap of thunder that finally drove them all pell mell into the safety of the garage, punctuated his feeble statement, soundly.

Photo: Chet and Gage playing softball.

Photo: Marco and Stoker playing softball.

Photo: Animation: Falling black rain.

Photo: Gage and Chet nose to nose in an argument on the kitchen table.

*************************************************** From: "Monster Moofie" Date: Sat Feb 11, 2006 12:43 am Subject: Who is Johnny's date?

Three days later, 51's A-shift was back on duty. The day, however,  
bore a completely different change of weather and call-outs for them.  
The weather was beautiful and the station had been run ragged for the last twenty four hours. And for a change, even Johnny and Chet had arrived early.

Captain Stanley called the guys together for roll call. After giving out the assignments, he advised. "Hey guys. Just so you know, C-shift has been as busy as we were slow the other day. It looks like we're going to be kept hopping today. Also, you two twits can put 'gonna be captain' thoughts out of your minds," he looked directly at Chet and Johnny."We simply aren't going to have the time for any of that today." Hank said, biting his lip.  
::Heck, when we DO have time, I'll be glad to place some wagers on them myself.:: Cap thought. "I'm going to go do some paperwork I need to get done." Cap advised the guys as he headed towards his office. "I suggest that all of you be ready to take over from C-shift on the fly when they get back."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"How in the heck did Cap know about our little wager?" Johnny pondered as the five firemen headed into the kitchen.

"He always knows everything going on around here it seems. At least, to me." Marco commented.

"Yeah, I think you are right, Marco." Roy agreed. "Well, we'd better grab some coffee and donuts while we can."

They all dug in, enjoying the usual station morning ritual of Chet feeding Henry pieces of his donut. "At least Cap can't complain about Henry being muddy today," Kelly stated to the others.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several hours later, Johnny was in an ambulance heading to Rampart with a trip and fall patient. "You are going to be just fine, Mrs. Jackson."  
Johnny calmly soothed the anxious woman. "It looks like you've broken your leg but the baby seems to be ok. We're arriving at the hospital now. They'll take good care of you."

The ambulance doors opened and he quickly wheeled the gurney into treatment three with the attendants, where Dr. Brackett was waiting for them.

"I'm Dr. Brackett." Kel introduced himself to the expectant mother as he smiled. "Betty, please get me another set of vitals on her."

"Doc, do you need me?" Johnny asked from the door.

"Nope. See you later, Johnny." Kel responded as he prepared to check the mother's fetal heart-tones with his stethoscope. After a minute, he said. "Your baby's heart sounds just fine. He or she seems to be very active right now. We've contacted your doctor and he'll see you when you get up to Maternity. Meanwhile, we are going to get your leg x-rayed and then get that bone reset."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Johnny headed out of the treatment room and was joined by Roy who was just entering the hospital.

::It has indeed been an extremely busy shift for the entire station:  
DeSoto mused to himself. ::Thankfully, the weather's beautiful and its forecasted to stay that way for several days.:: he thought.

Now that they had delivered their latest patient into Dr. Brackett's care, Roy and Johnny decided to dare taking a break.

They had been going non-stop since their little donut-fest that morning. Ten minutes after Cap's little talk, the squad and engine, manned by C-shift, had pulled in and their own shift had been toned back out just two minutes later.

Besides Mrs. Jackson, Squad 51 had responded to : a house fire, thankfully with no injuries, a man who had cut himself with a jigsaw, a toddler who locked herself in the bathroom, two heart attacks, and an MVA. They hadn't even had time to stop for lunch,  
although they had been back at the station for five minutes at noon.

::Just long enough to hope for a lunch break and then have those hopes dashed.:: Johnny sighed mentally.

Heading into Rampart's staff lounge, they grabbed some coffee and fruit and sat down with another weary pair who entered the room as well.

"You two finally caught a break, huh?" Dr. Early asked the two paramedics. The hospital had been equally busy and Joe and Dixie were enjoying their first break of the day. Both had been on duty since 6:00 a.m. and had been running non-stop.

"Doc! You'll jinx us!" Johnny exclaimed.

Dixie laughed at Johnny's paranoia. She didn't address it out loud,  
however, choosing instead to ask, "So how are the plans for the fireman's ball coming?"

"It's looking good, Dixie." Johnny replied. "We've got the hotel ballroom rented and we've got a nice little band reserved. They'll play quite a variety of tunes.. everything from jazz to some of the modern pop numbers. I'm really looking forward to it."

"Lucky for us, Joanne and Cap's wife, as well as several other firemen's wives from C-shift, have taken over most of the planning," Roy stated. "They've taken on the menu, all the decorating and buying the prizes. Pretty much all we guys have to do, is show-up in our tuxes."

"Now that's the kind of planning I like to do." Dr. Early said with a laugh. "I've asked a friend to go with me. It'll be nice to take her out to a ball like this. I hope this band's jazz is good."

"Kel is taking me, Joe. And I know he bought our tickets already." Dixie added. "I'm glad for the excuse to go shopping for a new formal dress tomorrow. Not to mention the fact that I'm looking forward to dragging Kel away from this hospital!" Changing tactics, she slyly said with a smirk, "So Johnny, who's the lucky lady?"

Blushing, Johnny stuttered, trying to think of an appropriate reply. He really didn't want to reveal who she was just yet. The guys had been trying to drag her name out of him for weeks and he had been successful at deflecting their inquiries. Dixie, however,  
was another matter. "Well, Dix, let me tell you about her." he replied. "She's...."

##Squad 51. Stand by for a response.## squawked the radio.

"Squad 51, standing by." Johnny answered as he and Roy quickly headed out the door. "Thank goodness! Saved by the bell," Johnny muttered under his breath.

"Wow,.. that break lasted almost five minutes! See you later Dix, Dr.  
Early.." Roy called as the paramedics rushed out the door.

"Ohhh that darn radio! Joe, did you get the feeling Johnny didn't want to answer my question?" Dixie asked. ::I'm going to have to look into this.:: she thought.

"Yep, I sure did." replied the thoughtful doctor. "I'm not sure why though. I guess time will tell. He's an eligible bachelor, so I suppose anything is possible."

----------------------------------------------------

##Squad 51, Engine 51, child trapped. 3414 Parker Avenue, Cross street, 212th. Timeout :15:20.## came the call a short time later.

Arriving on the scene, Johnny and Roy were met by the frantic mother of a trapped little boy located inside a residence.

"Please, hurry! You've got to help my son! He isn't moving anymore!" she cried.

"Ma'am, please, you've got to calm down." Johnny soothingly said. "Why don't you show us where he is?"

Quickly gathering their gear, Roy and Johnny followed the distraught mother into the house. Leading them into the family room, she pointed towards the floor. A small pair of sandal clad legs hung out of what appeared to be a heating vent, approximately a foot above the floor. Around the vent, was a large, heavy bookshelf full of books. They could see telltale prints showing how the boy had scaled the bookshelf to reach it. Lying on the ground beside the bookcase, was an ornate brass vent cover and a screwdriver.

"I was in the kitchen doing the dishes when I heard a thump in here. Johnny was supposed to be taking a nap! I checked on him not half an hour ago and he was asleep!"

"There's the engine," Roy said as he headed for the door. "I'm going to get the tools and talk to Cap, Johnny. I'll be right back."

::Oh great, if this kid turns out to be fine, the guys are going to have a field day with me about us having to rescue a stuck kid with my same name.:: Johnny thought as he appraised the situation.

"Johnny! Can you hear me? My name is Johnny, too." Johnny called out to the boy. Seeing a step stool nearby, he shoved it out of the way and kneeled down, checking the pulse in the boy's leg. "Ma'am how old is he?" Johnny asked the mother as he felt its quality under his fingertips.

"He is six and a half." she replied. "Please get him out of there."

-  
Meanwhile, back at Rampart, Joe and Dixie were already returned to work. Joe headed upstairs, having been called to consult on a case in the Neuro step-down unit. Dixie headed back to her desk in the ER.

Kel was there, making notations on a chart.  
"I just sent Mrs. Jackson upstairs to maternity," he commented. "Looks like she is going to be fine but they want to monitor her for a day or so. And yes, the cast should be off her leg by the time she has the baby."

"Poor lady. It must be hard enough to be pregnant, let alone breaking your leg, too, in a fall." Dixie observed. "By the way, don't forget that I'm off tomorrow. I'm looking forward to a full day of shopping. It isn't everyday a girl can look forward to being escorted to a fancy ball, and by a handsome prince no less. "  
she grinned at him.

Brackett was good enough to blush.

Dixie leaned closer. "You do realize we're going to have the entire Rampart staff and half the fire department speculating again about whether or not we're an 'item'." she said saucily.

Kel laughed. "I'm glad you are looking forward to it." he commented. "You definitely deserve a fancy ball after all you do for us around here. Oh, by the way, be sure to let me know what color dress you come up with. A pretty lady deserves some pretty flowers to go with them. As for all the speculation, let them wonder!  
I don't care if they think we are having a torrid affair or not.  
They were going to gossip even if we never spent any time together.  
Actually that probably would have made things even worse. Then,.. they would think we were having a wild affair while acting like we didn't like each other. So,.. we might as well just spend our time together when we want to and hang all the gossip!" he grumbled.

"True on all counts. I'm glad you feel that way. You are pretty important to me, too. Although I do have to say one thing...There had better not be any emergency deliveries or any other such thing this time once we're there." Dixie stated. "With my luck, the ball will end up like our lunch did last month at Manny's."

Just then, they were interrupted as the ER doors opened and a woman entered. She looked barely able to stand and they quickly ran to meet her, attempting to get her into a convenient wheelchair before she collapsed.

Barely able to speak, the woman moaned. "He's in my car.." Then she passed out. She would have fallen if Kel hadn't been there to catch her.

Dixie grabbed a gurney and they got both the woman onto it.

Typical for the way the day had been so far, the base station chose that moment to start squawking. Fortunately, at its beeping,  
there appeared several other nurses and Dr. Morton.

"Here we go again!" Dixie said to no one in particular as she started taking the fainted woman's pulse while Dr. Brackett ran outside to the still running car.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photos: None.

*  
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2006 10:09:51 -0800 (PST) From: "Sam Iam" Subject: The Control Factor

Kel Brackett had to search only a few seconds to find the car the woman had spoken of. It had crashed into the wall outside of Emergency and was steaming from a violated radiator. He glanced into the back seat where a man lay sprawled only long enough to reassure himself that he was still breathing. "Hey,..what's the problem?"

"M--my chest.. Hurts...real bad." gasped the man. His pallor was gray and he was sweating profusely.

"Ok, I'm gonna get you out of here. Did you get hurt when she hit the wall?"

"N...no.." he moaned. "But I think ...my daughter did. She hit her head on the steering ...wheel." he whispered.

"Ok, I'm getting you out of here. Just let me do all of the work. The car might not be safe anymore."

The slight sized, sick man nodded and let Kel take him into his arms like a child.

Dr. Brackett stood with his burden and moved quickly into a patch of sunlight and turned in a circle until he spotted a couple of hospital staffers arriving to work from the employee parking lot. He whistled. "Hey! I need some help here with this man!"

The young intern and an orderly ran the remaining distance to the emergency entrance, dropping their books and bagged lunches, and took the gasping man from Kel. "What happened?" they asked, rushing to support the man's head and airway so he could continue to breathe without any problems in their arms.

"Possible cardiac. Looks like a relative panicked and smacked their car into the wall trying to find some fast help. Bring him inside.. Dixie'll tell you where to put him. I'll be right in. Max, get him on some O2 a.s.a.p. and inform Joe Early. I gotta handle this car first."

Kel paused only briefly to watch the two staffers carry away the older man.

Then the dark haired doctor leaned down to shut off the running motor. He kicked the gear into neutral so he could push the overheating Oldsmobile into the center of the ambulance lane away from the building. Sure enough, there was leaking gasoline underneath where the car had been. He barely had it a safe distance away from a parked ambulance and a squad when it burst into flames under the hood. Brackett snatched down the fire alarm lever next to the ambulance doors.

A few seconds later, 99's paramedics, whose squad it was in the receiving space, dashed out at the sound of the alarm. They immediately ran for the hospital's exterior glass encased hose, giving out the situation they were seeing through their HTs to L.A. as they turned off the auto-alarm with a jacket key so a hospital evacuation wouldn't start unnecessarily. One of them shouted to Brackett. "Anybody inside of there?"

"Not anymore." Kel sighed, resting in a crouch leaning over his knees. "There's some spilled gas on the ground all the way up to the Cadillac ambulance parked next to your squad. I had to push the car back out of range."

"Good thing you did, doc. If this explodes, it'll only take out itself now."

"Need anything else?" panted the doctor.

"Nah, we got it from here. Go treat the people who own this car. The rest of our station's only a minute away." said one of the fire paramedics. "Most likely, we'll have this out before our engine arrives on scene." he told Kel, pouring hose water over the engine his partner had exposed by popping the smoking hood open with a crowbar from their nearby squad.

In an angry growl, the car exploded, chasing Brackett into the safety of the hospital's entryway. The firemen, were fine, having known instinctively where to stand to wait it out to attack it afterwards with the charged emergency fire hose.

Dixie noticed the orange flare from where she was taking a blood pressure on the woman, who was still unconscious. "What was that, Kel?"

"Nothing we need to worry about. How's she doing?" he said as the two of them began to push her gurney toward the same treatment room as the man's.

"BP's low and staying there. Too long for just a faint. Did she hit her head?"

"Yes. She decided to argue with a wall on her way in here."

"She what?"

"Never mind. Let's get cracking. The man she was with's a possible MI. And he's even more critical than she is. Any sign of Joe down here yet?"

"Yeah, I saw him go inside the man's room a few seconds ago. He's got an intern and an orderly with him, I think." Dixie said, reaching down under the gurney for an oxygen mask to start on the girl.

"You're right about who else is with him. Those two, I flagged down from the parking lot." Doctor Brackett said as he connected the mask's tubing to the oxygen tank latched at his end by her feet. "It's high flow, Dixie."

"I'll chart that just as soon as we get back in control of things here, Kel."  
Then she wrinkled her nose. "Are you ok? You smell like a barbeque."

"I've got nothing that a long, hot soapy shower won't cure." he said, wiping his sooty hands along his white jacket's front to clean them enough so a future pair gloves would slide on a little easier. "I had to play fireman for a bit out there with this girl's father. It made me glad I'm just a simple city doctor." he said, keeping a grip on her wrist to monitor its weak, rapid pulse.

"Fireman? Kel,..what happened out there?" Dixie chided.

"I'll tell you about all of it...later. That's if, we ever get another break in today."

The door of treatment room five soon opened after they pushed the woman's gurney against it. They found they had walked straight into a full cardiac arrest response on Kel's man from the car with Joe Early orchestrating things efficiently at the head of it. "Ok, zap him again..." Early said to the attending intern standing next to him.

Kel and Dixie started right in caring for their injured girl positioned next to the man once the outer door snapped back shut behind them.

"Any recapture, Joe?" Brackett shouted over the aggressive CPR and noisy ventilations being given to the man.

"Not yet. Stop CPR. I'm going in with an eppy IC." he told the orderly and intern.

"Let me get her squared away with finding a decent reason for her syncope and I'll come over there to help." Brackett offered as he checked the daughter's pupils with his penlight.

"What happened to you? You're filthy." Joe asked, finishing his IC injection of epinephrine into the man's heart. "Ok, begin CPR again.." he nodded at the orderly.

"I decided to try out Roy and Johnny's other job description outside a few minutes ago. I can't say I like that kind of work. I didn't feel in control of anything out there. Not at all."

"And you think we all feel that way in here today, Kel? You'd be wrong. What's her story?" asked Early, as he watched the intern hit the charge button to get the defibrillator paddles ready to fire off again.

"A full blown case of daughter panic with a little MVA to spice things up a bit."

"Oh, so that was the fire alarm I heard going off...Don't tell me. The wall parked the car for her." said Joe.

"You got it." said Kel, checking out the girl's neck and head. He found a small pool of blood under the skin just above her forehead under the hair line. "Looks she's got a front impact concussion. But there's no fracture here." he said, palpating the area gently. "Dixie...."

"Already ordered. A full upper C-spine and skull series." McCall answered from the black lab phone.

"Ok, is everybody clear? 400 watt seconds.." Early said calmly. Then he delivered his fourth defibrillation attempt on the girl's dad after taking the paddles the intern handed out to him once more.

Shock! And the man's body jumped on the bed before it settled down again.

The intubated father's EKG wavered into sputtering life with a slow rate of thirty. Early snapped out his orders. "Max, get an Isoproterenol Drip going into that I.V. Dixie, could you call for a respirator for him? He's not picking up that part of things yet." he said, listening to the father's chest for lung sounds not being made by an ambu bag. "On second thought, I don't think he's gonna do any breathing today. I'm reading a third degree right bundle branch block creeping in on his monitor."

"I'll get a bird right away, Joe." replied Dixie. "CCU for him or surgery?"

"CCU. He's perfusing well enough for me for the moment. I want to get his strength up a bit before cracking into his chest."

"I'll take a surgical ward for my gal if her x-rays don't pan out." Kel volunteered.

"I'll reserve one." McCall nodded. "Labs, Kel?" she said, looking at him.

"The works." Brackett answered.

"For dad, too." Early piped up. "We didn't have time to get any done before he arrested on us." said Joe.

"I'll do them myself." Dixie said. "I'm faster." she said seriously.

-  
Out in the receiving alcove, it was just as busy.  
Doctor Morton leaned into the biocom.

"Unit calling in, please repeat." he said, thumbing the radio's talk button.  
Chet Kelly's voice came over the frequency. ##Rampart, this is Squad 51.##

"Go ahead, 51." said Mike as he pulled out a notepad from his pocket.

##Rampart, we've a child approximately six years old trapped in a heating duct. He's unconscious and still partially inaccessible to our paramedics at this time. We have rudimentary vital signs. We've found a popliteal pulse of 142. We're assuming that he has adequate respirations. The boy's color in his lower extremities remain shades of fair to good without strongly evidenced cyanosis. Please stand by for more information.##

"10-4, 51. Standing by.." sighed Morton. He reached over and pulled up a stool and tried not to look up at the chaotic emergency ward bustling around him through the glass windows.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo: Joe, an intern, Johnny and others working a code in a treatment room.

Photo : An animation of a burning car.

Photo: Dixie, talking to a hastily washing Kel in a room.

Photo: Animation of a real EKG monitor in V-fib.

Photo: Chet Kelly on the biophone.

Photo: L.A. Headquarters front door.

*  
From: "andacory" Date: Sat Feb 18, 2006 5:16 pm Subject: Spelunking For Children...

Johnny Gage looked up as Roy returned with the gang and a slew of manual extrication tools.

"How's he doing?" Roy asked, pulling off his helmet.  
He got out a thigh blood pressure cuff to take a quick reading off one of the boy's exposed legs.

Johnny glanced up, very aware of the fact that the boy's mother was watching and hearing every word. "He's still unconscious, but I'm not finding any obvious bleeding from anywhere that I can reach. Don't worry, ma'am. We get children out of tight spots like this all the time. The only thing that makes your son's situation different from others is that ..." he grunted while he pushed and prodded around the child's limp legs.."an application of soap's not gonna be the obvious answer for getting him outta here. I'm afraid we're gonna haveta make due with just a Phillips screwdriver." he said with a grin, holding up the one the boy had used to twist open one side of the heat vent cover.

The mother laughed a short nervous laugh and sat down onto the bed next to the bookshelf. "Johnny is just like his father.  
Always tinkering with things around the house. But this..." she said, her composure breaking again into sobs."..is something else."

Cap knelt by her and smiled. "It's ok to be a little upset by all this.  
But my men and I will have some answers soon about how he got this way and how he's doing now. But first, there are some questions you need to answer for us.."

Roy stepped right into the medical history opening. "Does Johnny have any illnesses or pre-existing medical conditions that might be causing this unconsciousness? Any allergies?.. Is he on any medications or has he been sick or hurt recently?"

"No.. no. Nothing. The only thing I can think of is that he's autistic. He never gets into anything that would be bad for him.  
At least, not intentionally. He always listens to what my husband and I tell him very closely. Only this time, I think his overwhelming curiosity about mechanical things got him into this trouble..." she sobbed.

Roy looked up. "Johnny. 90/52. Pressure's normal. Ma'am, is he severely autistic?"

The mother looked uncomfortable. "Well..he's not bad. M-maybe moderately according to his doctors." she shrugged helplessly with more than a little embarrassment.

"It's nothing to be ashamed of." Roy smiled. "I've a neighbor who's daughter has some autism at about the same level. She's the best painter I've ever seen. I have one of her landscapes hanging in my living room."

"Oh?" sniffed the mother. "How old is she?"

"Only about a month or two older than your son is here. And her condition doesn't effect anything she's truly interested in. Johnny seems to be very handy for his age with these tools. Maybe giving him his own garage workshop after today'll keep him from exploring the ventilation ducts." DeSoto said, helping Johnny unscrew the outer rim of the vent.

"That was my husband's idea, too. If only I had listened.." she sobbed.

Gage motioned for Chet to give him a flowing oxygen tube without a mask on it. This he shoved under the boy's shirt back through a gap in the intricate brasswork mesh and fed it further until the end of the tube thrust out around the boy's collar to poke against the child's cheek. "Ma'am. Johnny's doing fine for us so far. It's probably a simple reason why he's out cold like this.. " Johnny said. "He might have gotten scared a bit at being jammed in here so tight. He could have suddenly discovered some claustrophobia he didn't know about before and just fainted. His vital signs so far, are matching that profile."

"That might be true. I.. I.. don't like small spaces much myself."

"At any rate, I'm not worried quite so much about his condition as I am about how we're gonna save all your ductwork getting him outta here." Johnny smiled.

"Please. Tear away. My husband will have a fit about having to replaster the wall. But if Johnny helps him, some of the sting will work out of having to do the repair."

"Now that's what I call being optimistic, ma'am." said Cap kindly.  
"This probably isn't as dire an emergency as you first thought it was.  
Kids getting stuck in weird places always looks scarier than they sometimes actually are. I think we can get him out of there without demolishing anything."

"I dearly hope so, captain." said the mother.

Even after the screws were removed, the venting cover still didn't pull free, even with an encouraging crowbar.

"Man,.." Gage grunted. "This is really nailed down here."

"Yeah, but I'd hate to cut this grill. It looks like an antique." Roy replied. Then he reconsidered. "Maybe there's another way to approach this.." He looked up. "Cap?"

"Yeah?"

"In split level ramblers like this, aren't the heating ducts built double wide for better air exchange when the furnace kicks in?"

"I'm pretty sure they are. What are you thinking of?" Hank asked.

"Maybe we can get through the vent opposite this one from the room behind this wall. We might be able to spot the rest of him and figure out how to get him out without damaging the ventilation system unnecessarily." DeSoto speculated. "I'd hate to cut into things when we might not have to."

"Give it a try." Hank said, "Marco, Stoker. Go with him with the small tools. He's gonna need another screwdriver most likely."

"Ma'am?" Roy asked. "Could you show us the way to the other vent?"

"Oh.. uh, sure... That would be the master bedroom. I'll show you."  
she shouted. "Johnny...Mommy will be right back. Please wake up for me. Mommy's so worried about you." Then she bravely left her son in Johnny, Chet and Cap's care.

Meanwhile, Kelly gave Dr. Morton an update. "Rampart, we have more on the little boy." Then he read the notes Roy had written down onto his notepad. "Unconsciousness remains but he's got an oxygen supply near him. Blood pressure's 90/52, obtained from a leg. Pulse has now settled to 70 and it's regular. There are no signs of active bleeding or injury. Uh,..another footnote. The child's mother says he has moderate autism."

##10-4, 51. Fear and anxiety stemming from his autism may have precipitated a syncopal episode.## came Morton's voice over the biophone. ##Let's hold off starting an I.V. until you've freed the child and have assessed him more throughly while out in the open. His vital signs don't suggest the need for aggressive therapy yet beyond preserving that good breathing source of oxygen that you've already set into place.... 51, when he's free, see if you can wake him up by the usual means. If he doesn't regain consciousness quickly or easily, transport him as soon as possible. Otherwise, if he appears normal and oriented times three to his normal baseline, advise his mother to take him in to see a family physician for a follow through exam TODAY. Make sure it's not tommorrow or some other time when she decides to go.##

Gage nodded his understanding and Chet relayed his response verbally.  
Then he set down the phone and knelt down next to Cap to help him aim a flashlight deep into the vent to see if they could see anything of the boy's face to judge how his true skin color appeared now that he was breathing in pure oxygen.

Johnny tried a pain pinch in the fleshy part of the boy's calf. Little Johnny flinched and moaned slightly, jerking that leg. "Well, looks like he's waking up a bit." Gage grinned. "Hey, Johnny? Can you hear me?" he called out, rolling his eyes at Kelly in advance of his reaction.

"Johnny? You mean, this boy is named Johnny, too?" Chet chuckled when he heard the name.

"Shush, Kelly. Hush up and help Gage with him." Cap said no nonsense. "Your voice carries better."

Chet began shouting right along with the paramedic. But little Johnny didn't move until a second pain pinch was applied as encouragement. His eyes never opened. Nor did he articulate anything new past a quiet moan.

"Ok, that's all, Chet. Leave him alone. I got my estimate. He's sitting at about Glasgow ten." said Gage sharply.

Kelly ignored his coworker. "Roy? Can you hear me? The boy's waking up a little over here."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In the master bedroom, Roy had the heating grill off. His head was stuck through the opening and a flashlight's beam was fully lighting up the small space. "I hear you! And I can see him. Looks like it's big enough for me to get inside. Did he just move his legs a bit?"

"Yeah.." Gage shouted back. "Glasgow 10."

"Better and better. I'm going in!" DeSoto yelled in warning.

Sliding on his stomach and inching forward with his toes, Roy buried himself in the vent. Then his fingers reached the boy's collar. "I got him! Taking him out my way. Let go of his legs!"

Stoker, next to Roy, grinned and said. "I'll go get the O2."

"Wait on that, he's ok. I'll bring him back over there." Roy said, leaning his face near little Johnny's to double check his breathing status. On a thought, he checked the boy's pupils with his penlight. "They're dilated, Johnny! And there's no bleeding anywhere just like we figured!" he yelled through the jammed grill where the others were huddled. Then he mumbled to Stoker and Marco. "Classic sign of a recent blackout, these eyes of his. Ok, guys, haul me out of here. He's in my arms.."

And soon, he was in his mother's and stretched out on the boy's own quilt in the original bedroom under a richly flowing oxygen mask. It wasn't any time at all before the challenged child was asking her questions about the nightmare he thought he had dreamed in the dark, stifling hot cave that he had found under the bookshelf.

Station 51 left soon afterwards, without their patient.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photos: None. *  
From: "patti keiper" Date: Mon Feb 20, 2006 6:38 pm Subject: Like A Pride Of Lions...

The wonderous smells from a well cooked meal permeated Station 51's kitchen and the primary cook, Chet, stirred some mash potatoes into consistency in a bowl as fast as he could whip his wooden spoon.

The others, gathered around Kelly in a hungry circle, waiting for the spuds eagerly.

Gage made a snatch for the bowl and got it. "These are done already." he pounced and ducked with it to the table and the others leaped just as fast into their own chairs to eat.

"Hey! I haven't tasted the seasoning yet.." Chet protested.

"We can season our own." said Marco.

The bowl of potatoes shifted from hand to eager hand as it was dished out.

Chet reluctantly untied his apron and sat down. He frowned when the potato bowl finally got to his seat, empty. "What about me, guys?  
These are gone. Do I look like I need to lose some weight here?"  
he complained.

"Yes.." said Gage, stuffing his mouth. He immediately snatched up a water glass to down when his mouthful of steak proved too hot to chew. "Ahh.."

Cap immediately glowered. "Gage, quit burning yourself into a still alarm. Eat slower. I wanna get through a full meal and dessert once and for all,.. and today's the day!" he mumbled through a slice of well buttered Italian bread.

Johnny ignored his superior, recognizing a non threatening threat when he heard it. "Oh, sorry, Chet. Here you go. Have some of mine."  
and he forked over the tiniest mound of potatoes onto Kelly's plate.

Chet didn't even blink an eye. When Johnny was still busy reaching for a saucer of mushrooms, Kelly made off with Gage's entire lunch plate, trading it for his potato-less own, and dashed off with it to reseat himself next to Cap for what he considered the ultimate protection.  
::No one ever tries a retaliation around Hank while he's ravenous.:: Chet thought gleefully, shovelling in his newly stolen food.

Roy grinned when Johnny started cutting into the steak in front of him without realizing that he'd been victimized. "Johnny."

"What?! Can't you see I'm eating here?" Gage insisted, chipmunk cheeked and chewing desperately hard in an attempt to fill his gnawing stomach as quickly as possible like everybody else was doing.

"Try looking down." said Stoker, chuckling.

Johnny did, and immediately started sputtering. "Chet.. now give it--"  
he broke off when Cap fired off the look of death with no bones about it. "I - I mean.. uh...pass the steak sauce." he wilted verbally, even while his eyes shot flames.

"Sure, Gage. No problem. Here you go.." said Chet straight faced, "And here's some extra napkins, too, pal." he added with a smirk, ducking around Cap's larger shoulder.

Johnny all but shredded them out of Chet's hand.

Cap tuned out the reaction, having gotten the quieter conversation he demanded while he ended starvation.

Marco ladled out some green beans for Gage. "Here, Johnny. Have my portion of these. At least, they're fiberous. I like potatoes better anyway."

"So do I..." hissed Gage from the corner of his mouth. Then softer, "Thanks."  
"I'll get even with him later."

"There might not be a later if you get blocked up on that whole shitake." Roy said.  
"Cut it up already."

"Why don't you just mind y--" Gage immediately piped and his hands flew to his throat.

Cap's head snapped up. "Gaagggee, are you choking on me?" he growled.  
"What part of 'no still alarms' at the lunch table don't you understand?!"

Roy smacked Johnny's back over his lungs with a firm whack that cleared him out violently and the offending fungus sailed clear over the table and across the room. Henry's beefy head shot up from the couch and intercepted it in midair gleefully as a token handout.

"... I..got..the..hint..clearly, ..Cap..." Johnny rasped hoarsely as he coughed to find his wind again. "I'm..*cough* fine.." he peeped, downing the last of his water.

"Good, now shut up and eat." Hank said, tucking his napkin neatly at the collar so he wouldn't soil it with sour cream.

Chet snorted. "Aw, Roy. Why'd have to go and save him for? If Gage kicked off, there would have been more food for the rest of us guys."

"You got plenty enough already." Johnny said, feeling his neck for damage.

Hank instantly dished out discipline. "Kelly, you just lost your part of the apple pie to Gage here for wisemouthing."

"Aw, Cap..I--"

"?" Hank gushed lightly with some dangerous speed.

Kelly's face flushed bright red just a little bit faster than his lips as they clicked shut.

Gage grinned. "Cap..." he said with admiration. "You gotta teach me that dressing down wither real soon. If I'm gonna be making Cap when you get promoted to the chief's spot, I'd better be ready to handle these turk--"

"Who said I'm leaving the department?" Hank asked matter of factly, letting his knife sharp glare at Chet fall away.

The gang moused down.

Roy broke the pregnant pause. "Well, Cap. It's not exactly a secret that you've been studying from manuals none of us have ever seen before."

"You know about that?" Cap asked sheepishly.

"Yes.." said absolutely everyone.

"What gave me away?"

Marco lifted his head from blowing on his too hot cup of coffee. "We can't sleep somedays without hearing your snoring, Cap." Lopez shrugged.  
"On those days, we usually wake up and find that you've gone into the office."

It was Cap's turn to blush. "I do not snore."

Henry, from the couch, barked in betraying negation.

Hank lowered his eyebrows, "Oh... I do. Uh, ok. Geez you two.." he said pinning a stare at Roy and Johnny accusingly. "You're both paramedics.  
Why don't you ever flip me over or something to stop me from doing it?"

"We're usually too tired to, Cap." sighed Johnny. "Putting pillows over our heads is far easier than braving the chill in our underwear just to get up to correct your noisy airway."

"Huh.." grunted Chet. "Don't they have nose tape nowadays for dealing with that kind of thing?" he said, scraping his plate clean of the last of the mushroom gravy with a soup spoon.

"Well, why didn't any of you tell me that I had a problem at night?" Hank asked.

"It wasn't erotic dreams mumbling or anything to tease you about. So why bother?" Kelly said.

"I do not have erotic dreams."

Henry wailed one out again, this time, two times louder.

The rest of the gang stayed politely silent, giving their entire attentions to clearing their divested plates from the table.

Only Roy met his eyes sympathetically. "We're all men, Cap." And then he got up to help wash the dishes. "It's no biggie."

"Oh, yes it is." said Chet sotto voce. But no one heard him.

Gage laid out the still warm apple pie with a flourish with a pair of red checkered pot holders and started cutting it into six pieces. Then he checked himself. "Oh, that's right. I'm supposed to cut only five pieces now outta this." he said straight faced.

Chet sighed. "Ok, Gage. Touche. Now let's talk about our little becoming the-new-cap-of-51's-competition in earnest, shall we?"

Roy winced in embarrassment for Stanley out loud. "Guys, he's not going anywhere yet. The tests are still a week away for just the preliminaries of battalion chief consideration."

Chet wiped his mouth and reached over for Marco's coffee pot.  
"Well, you know what younger pushier male lions do whenever the dominant one in the pride shows even the slightest hint of aging."

"Uh oh." Stoker trickled.

"I beg your pardon." Cap scoffed in surprise.

Chet eyes got big when he realized that his mouth had led him astray once again. He immediately grovelled. "Well, I uh, I..uh.  
Cap, I didn't mean it quite ...the way things sounded.. I was speaking figuratively... hehehe, of course..." and he sank deeply down into his chair.

"Front and center.. Right now." Cap said, getting up in stiff anger,  
stabbing his butter knife very near Chet's vulnerable spread fingers.  
"Marco. Go grab both of our Manikin Andys. ASAP."

Kelly yelped and tucked them into his lap. "Oh..boy. Cap..what're you gonna do with me?" he peeped.

Hank's eyes narrowed and the guys couldn't tell if he was actually being serious...or not. "You wanna challenge me for my job?" he said, not using his greater height to press into his much smaller man, at all.

"Uh, no, Cap. Uh, that's not how it's done I thought. I thought that HR had to--"

"Directly?!" Hank roared quietly. "Ok... you're on. Let's do it."

Chet's eyes got real big in real fear. "Let's ...do...what?"

"On the floor. On your knees. Right now." he said cracking his knuckles meaningfully.

"Cap. You don't mean to do that..." Stoker said, catching on instantly.

"Oh yes I do.." chorused Cap, taking the place opposite Chet in a like position. "Marco lay them out right here." he said smacking the ground.

Lopez grunted with the heavy weight of the two manikins locked against his chest with laced fingers. He dropped them and they fell on Kelly.

Chet flailed a bit until he got them off. "What's the meaning of this?"

Roy and Johnny started grinning and they began to help turn the Andys until both dummies were lying parallel to each other on their backs.

"I had to go through it when I got engineer, Chet." said Mike Stoker.

"Had to go through with what?" Kelly said suspiciously.

Hank cracked his knuckles again and said. "You got three seconds,  
Chet. You wanna play games? Fine. Go longer than me and I'll help you study for the captain's test even before I get my promotion paperwork in order."

"Uh,,. I don't understand.." Kelly murmured, feeling his knees press into the hard floor.

Henry thumped down from his cushion sympathetically and came over to lick Chet's face.

Hank met Chet's eyes and held them. Then he gestured. "Your man right there is in full arrest." Cap said, poking Chet's Andy in the chest.  
"This guy's mine. He's got the same problem and the squad's ETA is ten minutes. You have no gear whatsoever to work him past your bare fingers. Got it now?"

Chet squeaked. "Uh,, this is a CPR exercise scenario?"

"You bet your a**." Cap said no nonsense. "Gage give us ten seconds so we both can start in fairly. Chet, you wanted to test yourself against me saying I'm the weaker one? You're on." And he ripped his manikin's snapped shirt open. "This exercise will include all the necessary rescue breathing, too." Hank glowered. Then he nodded at Johnny.  
"An inadequate chest rise will count as a failure. So will mis-counting or missing any compressions."

"10...." Johnny began.

Chet blithered. "Cap, should we be tiring ourselves out like this?"

"9..." said Roy, too, joining in with Gage.

Kelly went on, "I mean, what if we get a huge fire call to go on? Neither one of us will be in any shape to even pick up an empty hose.."

"8...7...6... ! " chimed the rest of the guys.

"Are you saying that you're too out of shape to handle your firefighter's position, Chet? Hmm, this might put a different light on things entirely. Nothing that a tiny board of inquiry can't investigate in more detail.."

Chet gulped.

"...3....2.."

"Don't miss your mark.." Hank hissed.

" 1..! Go!" hollered the gang, getting into things big time.

Kelly sweated and bent down to listen in a breathing check.  
Henry bent down, too, with all his bad breath glory. "Eeoow.  
Henry, ya big bum.. Get outta my face!"

Henry just wagged his tail a little harder.

Chet forced himself to begin his mouth to mouth, under duress,  
miserably, and with high fear of falling behind Cap's own dummy CPR.

Chet was feeling for a "pulse" when Henry laid down contentedly right on top of Chet's manikin's lower stomach. "Cap.. look what he's--"

"Consider him a piece of fallen debris, Kelly. Work around it!"  
he said, groping his Andy's neck for the required ten seconds monitoring.

Kelly whined. "He's gonna make chest rise harder for me."

"Too bad.." Gage whispered. "Pretend it's a developing pneumothorax.." and he started laughing to beat the band.

Compressions began in earnest at 100 a minute and both firemen worked in perfect concert to each other.

Five long minutes passed under the din of the gang's cheering and enthusiastic egging. Then Cap issued a comment. "Just like arm wrestling contests, eh, Chet?" he said giving his Andy a full set of breaths. "How are your butt cheeks faring right now, hmm? Are they burning yet? If they are, that means you're really FAR outta shape, pal.." he mocked.

::Oh sh*t..:: Chet thought as he felt a bead of sweat splatter off his face to land right in the most inconvenient place in the world. Right on Andy's rubber sternum where it posed a slipping danger. Kelly wiped it off with a calf during his next breath cycle. ::Why did I open my big fat mouth?:: he gasped,  
beginning to feel another kind of burn from lack of air deep in his lungs.

The CPR war went on.. And on.. until..

------------------------------------------------------------

Photos: None.

*  
From: Jeff Seltun Date: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:07 am Subject: "Watch Me Pull A Rabbit Out Of My Hat."

Henry suddenly looked up with his ears perking back towards the station house.

He barked three times in a new urgency that was very different from the kind of excitement that he has shown during the CPR contest.

"Visitor's doorbell." Mike Stoker said.

Cap broke off immediately and got to his feet."Which one?"

"The front office's entrance by the street. He's looking that way."

"I'll get it." said Roy and he jogged off with Henry trucking alongside of him with a firm doggy determination.

"We'll go, too." said Marco about himself and Stoker.  
They disappeared after Roy.

"I don't know about you, but I got thirsty just watching you two. What do you say I pour a pair of tall ice teas with lemon for the both of ya." Gage said. "I'll leave them on the kitchen table after I check out what the buzzer's all about." and he ran off after the others.

Chet covered his true out of breath state by laughing. "Henry's better than L.A. for intercepting incoming traffic, don't you think, Cap?" he said, not getting up from where he was kneeling on the ground. He was practically folding over his middle in an effort to loosen cramps.

Ruefully, Cap offered him a hand up. "Come on. Let's see go what the problem is along with the rest of them."

Kelly allowed himself to be pulled off the ground. "Thanks.. *gasp*.. Why aren't you puffing yet, Cap? You were pulling mean sets there same as me."

"I'm a good faker, Chet." Hank said, finally gaping his mouth to suck in all the air he could get in a few cleansing breaths. "Here's.....*gasp*.. some advice for .....you. A good captain never lets his men see the full extent of ........how tired he is after doing something having anything to do with the business."

"But, Cap, you're letting me see it."

"That's because I like ya, Chet. You don't give ground under pressure, in spite of how you might act outwardly." he grinned. He looked behind him and started walking as fast as he could for the bay. "It's too quiet over there for just some casual housecall. My sixth sense is starting to fire off big time here."

"Mine is, too." said Chet, following, rubbing away the goose bumps dotting his breeze chilling skin.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roy started running for the window framed entryway next to the garage door when he heard a constant car horn blowing. It cut off alarmingly. DeSoto got there just in time to see a frantic woman pounding on the glass.

"Please... Please! Help us.." she cried when he jerked the door open and propped it to stay that way with a loose brick from the flower bed.

"What's the problem, ma'am?"

"It's my husband." she said, trying to calm herself down in his steadying grip. "He's having some bad chest pain. I - I was driving him to the doctor's office when he began throwing up and sweating. It's not the indigestion he says it is.." she told him.

"Cap!.." DeSoto shouted. "There's a medical situation out here. One victim!"

Gage skidded on the floor after punching open the main doors. "I'll pull the squad forward into the drive out until it's out by you, Roy. Is he conscious?"

Roy looked over the woman's head and saw a fifty something year old man sitting in the passenger seat with a worried look on his face. " Yes!" he shouted to he focused his attention back on his panicking visitor. "Ok...It's all right. Why don't you have a seat on this stone bench right here by the flag pole."

She was almost beyond listening as she let herself be guided to sit. "I had to do something fast. I knew I couldn't wait to reach the doctor's office even though it's only three minutes away.."

"Ma'am, you did the right thing by stopping when you did. We can take care of him right now." Roy said soothingly with a calming smile. In the background,  
he could hear Cap in the communications alcove calling out a still alarm.

"I figured that you, over anyone else nearby, probably could. My mother told me that you guys have specialized doctor training or something similar to that." The woman startled when Henry interceded his wet nose under her hand for a pet.

"Yes, ma'am, I'm one of those trained as a rescue paramedic with the department. I'm gonna go have a look at him right now, ok? Good ol' Henry here will keep ya company along with Fireman Lopez, all right?" DeSoto said, seeing Marco taking a seat next to her.

She nodded quickly, her tears just beginning to come.

Roy pulled open the passenger car door and knelt in front of the man. "How are you doing, sir?" He saw that the man was ashen and drenched in a cold sweat in spite of the heat of the afternoon.

"Not... so hot, fireman. I've.. had this.." he winced in a spasm that made Roy reach out to open his collar and undo the man's belt for breathing ease. "..pain for about forty five minutes."

"What does it feel like?" Roy asked, glancing over as Johnny swiftly parked the squad parallel with the car with its lights turned on so the ambulance would be able to spot them better from the road. He heard Chet Kelly and Captain Stanley begin to break out a full array of gear onto the pavement next to him.  
Bending down, Roy set the emergency brake on the manual stick driven car for added safety.

Mike Stoker opened the driver's side of the car and crawled in with the resuscitator case. He unlatched it and got a nonrebreather mask going for Roy to use as soon as he had his initial impression.

"It's bad.. Crushing me.. Right under the breastbone."

"Does it radiate anywhere else? Mike, go ahead and put him on that. 15 liters."

"No." replied the distressed man. "I've had these chest pains before. The docs at Rampart performed one of them angioplastys on me nine months ago.....I don't understand it. Why am I having problems now? They tell me I had a very easy rehab."

"I don't know the answer to that question, but a doctor soon will. We'll hook you up to a monitor and let him take a look at what your heart's doing to figure out why you're in so much pain now. Just breathe deep and regular. This oxygen will help you feel a little better." Roy took the slumped man's pulse at the wrist and found that it was very slow. "Johnny. I've got severe bradycardia. His shirt's saturated but he's got no jugular distention or any difficulty breathing."  
he said, opening the man's shirt.

"I'll tell him.." Gage said, holding up the phone receiver from the biocom.  
"I've got Brackett on the line."

The husband tried to relax his clenching fists. "The....only other problem I had was some high cholesterol. The day I heard that test result, I started eating that Promise margarine right away." he chuckled. "But I've never felt pain like this before. It's a ten outta ten, mac.." He stiffened in another surge, gripping his chest with both hands. "I was ....dragging the garbage cans out to the street when all of this came on.." he said through his oxygen mask. He didn't even notice Stoker climb into the back seat to keep tabs on his carotid around the headrest.

Cap got busy pulling the leads out of the Tetronix case. He tried to apply the electrodes using the manual pads but they wouldn't stick to the man's chest.  
He ran to go get a rag from the mop closet to dry off his skin.

"Johnny.. Hand me a benzene swab so I can dry him off a little faster here until Cap gets back." DeSoto said reaching behind himself with a look for the foil package.

A groan from the man under his other hand drew back his attention. The sick husband's body had arched up into an active shudder. Suddenly, he fell limp and became breathless. Stoker cried, "I'm getting no carotid, Roy."

Together, he and Mike pulled the man out of the car and laid him out gently on the driveway, in a patch of full sunlight, on his back. Cap shadowed them with the oxygen equipment he had snatched from the car seat.

"Alphonse!" said the wife as she tried to get up.

Marco grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and prevented it. "Easy.. let's keep giving them room to work. They're going to do everything they possibly can for him, ma'am."

"Cap. Let's skip these." DeSoto said about the manual pads. "Let's use the combination ones from the monitor." He quickly intercepted the clump of stickers and wires that Johnny had already pulled out of the EKG pouch. "Mike?"

"I got him.." said Stoker as he began CPR. Chet Kelly started active ventilations using the heavy, black rubber demand valve after he had pulled the other clear oxygen mask off.

"Rampart.. Our M.I.'s gone into full arrest..." Roy heard Johnny say behind him.

DeSoto sighed when the pads proved to be gummy enough to stick to the husband's clammy skin with good contact points on all three leads. He accepted passive paddles from Stanley who had tackled the defibrillator setup after being shooed away. "Ok, Stoker, Chet. Hold off for five seconds and let me scope him. Turn the screen so Johnny can see it, too." Roy told them as he laid uncharged paddles on the man's dripping ribcage.

"Yeah," Johnny agreed while still on the phone line. "Rampart, this will be lead II." Gage leaned forward from where he was writing down doctor's orders and he got his EKG interpretation faster than Roy could tell him about it. "We have a confirmed ventricular fibrillation. I'm sending you a strip now." he said turning a dial on the biophone's communications panel.

##Defibrillate, 51.## ordered Brackett over the phone receiver, loud enough for the rest of the firemen to hear.

Hank hit the orange charge button and called out the rising wattage. "One, two.  
three,..four hundred watt seconds."

Roy yelled out, "Clear!" and shocked the man firmly. The erratic bouncing line jolted in a snarled peak but then fell ominously level again. "Nothing. Continue CPR."  
he ordered. Stoker and Kelly immediately started in again with their care.

"Charge it again, Hank." DeSoto whispered hoarsely as he regelled the paddles himself by using some teeth to re-unscrew the lubricant tube's cap. "Make sure his EKG wires aren't touching the car. Henry's sniffing around in there."

"They're not....Henry, get out of there.." Cap hissed at the dog tail he could see waving through the window next to his ear.

The basset hound dutifully returned back to Marco and sat down uneasily by the wife's side. His instincts were telling him to guard the fallen man.

Captain Stanley got his final number. "Ok, 400.."

Roy got his clearance and delivered a second shock. The dying rhythm rose up at the energy jolt but otherwise didn't respond as he was desperately hoping that it would. He could still see V-fib on the monitor. "Going for a third, Johnny. He's still in V-fib." he announced in a update without turning around to look at Gage. "It's quickly becoming a fine one."

Hank sighed as he held the I.V. bag that Johnny was swiftly setting up. ::Fine V-fib? With that, he's nearly asystole with hardly any cardiac activity. That's always real bad.:: Cap thought as he spared the wife a sympathetic look. He could see Lopez offering her an accepted comforting hug.

Kelly anticipated Johnny, and in between breath to compression pauses, he switched out the positive pressure valve for a gentler transparent green latex ambu bag. He pointed to the array of wrapped endotrach tubes in the case with an elbow and Gage answered his unspoken question. "He's an eight French."

Chet read a label and got out the proper one and unpapered it, laying a laryngoscope along with the airway onto the man's stomach where Johnny would have easy reach of them when he was set on his medication syringes.

Hank helped prime the I.V. tubing while Roy grabbed a tourniquet, tape and alcohol prep to start the man up with his fluid access point.

Gage set down the phone. "All right. Roy's ready to intubate him, Mike. Brackett wants an ET as soon as we get him on a long spine board. Kelly, we'll lift at the end of the next CPR cycle. Just slide that underneath him. Cap's got it in his hands. We're gonna need it for his transfer to the gurney later." Johnny told them.

"I'm waiting.." said Chet, never slowing on his squeezed ventilations.

"So am I." replied Stoker, keeping his compressions even.

At the end of a fifteen set and two breaths, all the firemen lifted the husband rapidly by his clothes until the longboard squared him.

Then the core of the medical work began.

Cap raised the head of the board up onto the splints box just enough so DeSoto would have a way to drop the man's head back for his intubation attempt.

Roy used Cap's abandoned closet rag to wipe away a splash of vomit left behind after suctioning. The he quickly tubed the man using the strong early evening sun that was still lighting up the top of the man's head. "How's that?" he said, folding up the laryngoscope and tossing it into the case next to him.

Johnny left Cap holding the I.V. bag and an array of sheathed syringes while he checked for equal lung sounds. "Pull it up a bit, Roy. The left's muffled. Chet go easier for a few breaths until we're sure of his placement." he said to Kelly, glancing up from where he crouched low using his stethoscope.

DeSoto jostled the ET out an inch, not getting into Chet's way where he was bagging and applying cricoid pressure. "How about now?"

Gage paused, moving the drum around Stoker's stationary laced fingers as he listened. "Ok, he's equal bilaterally. No sounds over the stomach."

Mike continued his CPR at a nod from Gage.

"That's placed at twenty two centimeters.." Roy said for Johnny's notes.

"Got it." he replied. After writing, Johnny took back the I.V bag and medications from Hank.

Roy secured the man's airway with an ET holder and bite block. A minute later he asked. "Cap, found a vein site yet?"

"No. He's flat everywhere on both arms and legs." replied Stanley. He had cut away the man's pants legs and sleeves with Roy's shears looking for possible sites.

"Ok, we'll go ET for his epi loads." DeSoto decided.

"Yep. Brackett wanted those first. Here." said Johnny passing off two epinephrine 1:10,000 doses that he had cap popped, air squirted and screwed together a few minutes earlier.

Roy grabbed them both. "Ok, Stoker. Stop CPR. Chet, go ahead and pull off the ambu for a second." Then he injected both syringes down the airway through its mouth port. "Give him three breaths now. Make sure they're deep."

Kelly did so. "Ok, Stoker. Start up again." Chet said when he was through.

CPR resumed to begin circulating the stimulant.

Roy shook his head at the monitor. The V-fib still hadn't coarsened for them. "Ok, I'm shocking again." and he hit the charge button on the defibrillator until its whine built up to the top level. He delivered the charge, but afterwards,  
the fine ventricular fibrillation returned to plague him horribly. ::Not another death so soon. Please...:: he wished mentally. Then his knee bumped the man's head as he was setting down the paddles. He let out a grunt of discovery. "Oh, would you look at that." It was one of the nicest jugular veins he had ever seen. "Johnny, I got one."

"It's about time.." Johnny murmured as he wrote down another order from Brackett. "I was beginning to wonder if we'd lost our touch." he grinned.  
Then he set about getting a new course of medications prepared.

Roy swiftly inserted a sixteen gauge catheter in the man's neck and attached the tubing. He dialed up a wide open to see what would happen. He got a rapid flow of fluid with no swelling or infiltration to the site. He quickly secured it with tape and turned the rate down to TKO.

He barely noticed Johnny delivering Brackett's one amp of sodium bicarb right behind his taping. He was pure thinking instead. "Does he want Lidocaine or the new one?"

"The Amiodarone. 300 mgs I.V. push." Gage replied.

Roy pulled two vials of 150 mgs and snapped the tops off their glass ampules, drawing both into a syringe. He stopped himself when he remembered that the anti-arrythmic had a tendency to foam on pressure without a saline bolus. He calmed it down with 10 cc's from the I.V. bag Cap was holding up for him. Then he filled his mix the rest of the way into his injection syringe. The foam disappeared. A glance told him that V-fib still existed on the monitor around the CPR waves. He injected all of the cardiac stabilizer and ran in fluid wide open to complete its delivery.

They all started gaping in disbelief when the fine V-fib started to grow into a very coarse pattern.

"There's our window. Defibrillate him again." said Johnny. Post shock, the V-fib remained coarse. "Ok, it's been four minutes." he said, popping the caps off another Epi 1:10,000 and twisting them together. He shot the stream into the air before giving it into another port on the I.V. tubing.

The man was shocked again with the same result on CPR.

"Let's go with what works." Roy muttered, cracking open another ampule of Amiodarone. He glanced at his watch. "Here's his second shot. The time of his half dose, at 150, is 17:03." he reported to Johnny as he pushed it into the I.V.'s med port followed by a saline flush.

Cap looked up at Henry's bark. "The Mayfair's here." A minute later, a siren began to build from the distance, coming fast from the east.

The next shock showed a change from V-fib to a more normal looking sinus type rhythm. Chet checked for a pulse, but found none. "It's not there yet." he said.

"Resume CPR." DeSoto said, looking up, leaving the I.V. set at a wide open rate to encourage all the medication. "We'll ready him for transport."

"Four minutes since the last epi." offered Hank, looking at his watch.

Roy gave the man another loading dose of epinephrine to keep up the required stimulant intervals that Brackett liked his paramedics to use.

Captain Stanley planned out their next move. "Chet, Mike, stay with DeSoto.  
We'll follow along in the engine in case he crashes again. You'll need a CPR switch off with us if that happens. Stoker, you ok for now?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Guess I'm used to long CPRs now." Mike replied.  
"No thanks to you." he teased under his breath so only Cap and Chet would hear him. Then he winked at them both.

The husband was carted off without a break in his CPR to the waiting ambulance.  
Once he was situated and locked down, Roy rechecked the tube's placement.  
It was still secure with good breath sounds. Marco quickly got the wife into the Mayfair's passenger seat. The ambulance attendant took over Chet's cricoid pressure hold to prevent the man from stomaching his oxygen.  
Johnny remained on the side bench getting another dose of epi and bicarb set and ready for Kel's next move.

The Mayfair took off for the hospital Code Three.  
In transit, Roy was all business. Hopefully, he checked for a carotid.  
And found one. "Hold off, Mike. I think he's got a pulse of his own now."

Stoker stopped while Kelly kept bagging.

Roy nodded again, smiling happily at the neck pulse bounding under his fingers. "It's there."

Johnny looked at the monitor. "He's in the nineties. All right.." he celebrated.  
He followed up with a blood pressure check. "98/48." He snatched up a smaller 250 ml bag of normal saline and added 250 mgs more of Amiodarone with a microdrip set. He piggybacked it into the main I.V. line. He left it at a rate of 60 gtt to keep up the perfusable rhythm with 1mg of the medication a minute for some patch maintenance.

The tweeking brought better results. Roy checked and got a second BP reading. "108/50. He's on a definite recovering curve."

All four of them looked at the EKG. It was showing a very good normal sinus rhythm. Seconds after, the man started gasping with some chest rise through his unconsciousness. Chet shifted to assisting him with light vents on inspiration with his ambu.

Johnny got back onto the biophone. "Rampart, vital signs are responding towards wakefulness with the rhythm you can see. Respirations are beginning. Our ETA is one minute."

##10-4, 51. We'll be waiting.## replied Kel. ##Nice job, fellas. Congratulations on a successful turn around. We have cardiac catheterization specialists standing by. Rampart Hospital, out.##

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Roy and Johnny asked Brackett how their surprise visitor had fared.

Kel replied. "A twelve lead indicated an acute inferior MI. We drew labs and did his second angioplasty, which revealed numerous blockages of the right circumflex artery. He went through a triple bypass last night. He should be fine once again after a bit more of extensive rehabilitation."

"Wow, was he lucky." sighed Roy.

"He sure was." Gage said, equally impressed. "I thought he was a goner for sure the way he crashed like that."

"Well, it helped that his arrest was witnessed and that care was rendered immediately to rectify the situation." said Kel, beaming.

"Kinda makes you smile knowing that you've got so many paramedics around these parts nowadays, doesn't it doc?" Gage asked Dr. Brackett.

"Smile, Johnny? He gets positively effusive at everyone whenever he thinks about it." replied Dixie McCall, looking up from her chart. "It's a welcome change from his usual grumbling mood, let me tell you."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, the gang slept the sleep of the dead, warm in the glow of pure self satisfaction.

That is, until something else unexpected happened....

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photos: None. *  
From: "Roxy Dee" Date: Thu Feb 23, 2006 5:19pm Subject: The Cheynes-Stokes Scare~~

Henry began to whine softly in the darkness.

From his bunk, Chet groaned. "Oh, for Pete's sake,  
Gage. Did you forget it was your turn to let Henry out earlier?"

"I let him out. I let him out.. Two hours ago. Maybe he's just bored or something.." Johnny said flipping over onto his back. "It is kind of unusual that all of us went to bed at the same time. Maybe he's just picking up on that fact as being a little odd."

"Yeah, well, let's just hope for your sake that he settles down." said Kelly as he flipped back over.

Johnny smiled in the blackness surrounding them,  
stretching a little. Then he thought of something. "Hey, Roy.  
You asleep?"

"I was. What do ya want?" DeSoto complained sleepily where he lay half out on his stomach.

"I was wondering whether or not you know what's eating Henry up so bad. I mean, there's no reason for his fussing. Know what I mean?"

Roy gave a sigh of long suffering. "I'm amazed that you even heard him. Usually you sleep like a log when it's so quiet in here."

"That's it. It's silent! I'll just bet Cap snuck off to the office ten minutes ago to study the chief's books again. That explains everything." Johnny said, sitting up."Hey Marco... Hey! Is Cap over there?"

Lopez flipped over in irritation. "Oh, for crying out. l- Ok, I'll look if only to shut you--" he broke off. "Uh, guys.. he's still here."

Something in Marco's voice made a chill flow down all their spines.

Lopez immediately pegged the problem for what it was. "Why isn't he snoring like he usually does?" Marco sat up, and peered the four feet over to his left to Cap's bunk. "Guys, I don't think he's moving."

Gage and the others shot to their feet but no one was faster than Chet. "Hey, Cap?!" Kelly said loudly as Roy waved the lights on at the radio table next to the window. "Gage, I don't think he's breathing." said the curly haired fireman, going nearer.

That alarmed Roy and Johnny and they hurried over to his bed,  
and they both kneeled down on either side of Hank, pulling his covers down and off of his chest. They were about to shake him when Stanley shifted in an involuntary jerk where he was on his back. Then he choked oddly and started gasping violently through a half open mouth without waking up. And fell into the normal snoring pattern they all were familiar with hearing at night.

Johnny glanced up at Lopez. "Are you sure you weren't seeing things?  
He's just fine. Geez, Marco. Thanks for scaring the h*ll out of all of us like that." said Gage, hurrying back across the cold floor to get under his blankets again.

"I know what I saw." declared Marco. "How could Henry and I both be wrong? How else would you explain why he's so uneasy. We all felt it a moment ago. That's what probably woke us all up."

The bunkroom erupted in loud conversation when everybody began debating about the real reason why they had crawling skin.

Then the expression on Roy's face stopped them all. His head was tilted as he listened to something they weren't yet aware of and his eyes slowly fixed on Cap's face. His snoring had gone completely absent and Cap lay still as concrete. Then they all noticed that he wasn't even trying to draw breath in any more.

"Holy sh*t." Johnny immediately gulped and jumped out of bed and he flew back over to Cap's side. "What's the problem? Roy, is he sick?"

"See? I told you." said Marco as he joined the others in a rush for Hank's bed.

Gage was just about to touch him when Roy stayed his hand. "Wait a minute. I think I just figured something out about what's happening here. I don't think we have to wake him just yet. I wanna see if I'm right about my sudden idea."

"Are you crazy? Let me at least open his airw--" Gage protested.

*Choke!* came the odd noise again from Cap. They all froze when Hank once again sputtered and gasped as if he were partially throat blocked for a few seconds. Then his snoring became once again what was normal for him during sleep.

Narrowing his eyes, Gage thought about it. "Every minute he does that?"

"Apparently." Roy said, folding his arms.

Chet was nervous. "Shouldn't we wake him and see if he's really ok?  
I mean, it might be a stroke or something."

The rest of the guys just rolled their eyes at Kelly.

"Oh, Chet, please, he's as healthy as an ox." Johnny scoffed, folding his arms like Roy was doing but for a different reason.

"Be that as it may, I'm gonna go get the O2. Just in case." Kelly said,  
jogging out of the room. "Unlike the rest of you, I'm getting ready for the unexpected."

Roy sat on the edge of Cap's bed and felt his pulse. "Normal. His color's good, too."

Gage figured it out. "Nah, it can't be."

"Only one way to find out." admitted Roy.

"Find out what?" Stoker asked, carefully watching Hank for any further adverse changes from where he crouched on his toes.

"We'll see in a just under a minute if what we think is up happens again." Gage told him.

Kelly came clattering back with the oxygen apparatus and he was intercepted instantly by Roy and Johnny and made to keep quieter.  
They took the equipment from his hands.

"What're you doing? We probably need that for him." Kelly snapped.

"Shhh! No we don't." Johnny hissed, jerking a thumb at where Cap lay slumbering. "Just hush up and watch him along with the rest of us, ok?"

"Watch for what?" Chet whispered, still scared.

From the other side of the room, Henry started whining again.  
Faintly, and worried.

Cap's loud snores grew more and more labored over time, but he didn't wake, his eyes rolling under their eyelids. Then he seemed to relax and his chin fell onto his chest again like usual. But while doing it, he fell silent and didn't draw in another breath. For ten seconds,  
fifteen... twenty..

Roy and Johnny watched tensely, still monitoring Hank's pulse, which was picking up.

Chet ansed. "I don't like this one bit. What's wrong with him?"

"Chet,...we don't know for sure. But Johnny and I see that he's not in any kind of danger yet. His color's still real good." Roy answered.

"What?"

"See for yourself." Gage said, gesturing.

"But he's not breathing." Kelly insisted.

Roy nodded in agreement. "If I'm right, he'll start up again in five seconds.."

Unconsciously, the others looked at their watches.

Mike stood in nervous anticipation, glancing at the oxygen gear in a brief flicker.

Gage was about to fidget himself when Cap repeated the violent recovery cycle of his strange seeming affliction without waking up in the slightest.

Roy timed the rate they all saw and heard as he resumed snoring.

Kelly squinted suspiciously. "Is this what I think it is?"

"You mean about him probably having a bad case of sleep apnea?"  
Roy asked. "That's what we both think it is." he said, pulling a BP cuff and stethoscope out of the desk drawer. He also grabbed a tape recorder, set it on the table, and hit the record button. "We're gonna document this right now and play it back for Cap in a few minutes when we wake him up. If we don't have proof of something odd going on, he'll never go to the doctor's about it. You remember how he was last year with the tendonitis he found in his hands. It almost took a catapult to get him in to see Dr. Brackett. Now, everybody, pipe down. Let's get two minutes of this recorded, ok?"

The rest of the gang twitched nervously, but they held their tongues.

Johnny showed pure paramedic skill when he got a blood pressure reading off Cap without disturbing him. "It's fine. 130/90." Then Hank's odd breathing started rising in ever increasing apparent difficulty.

Until he quit trying to do it at all.

It took everything the others had to hold their own breaths so the tape recorder caught everything without giving into their training to fix Cap's situation with a firm head adjustment.

A half minute went by where Cap didn't breathe. Then suddenly, he did, just like he had before in great shuddering inhalations until he was resting peacefully.

The gang watched this agonizing cycle once more before they couldn't hold themselves still enough to wait any longer.

They woke him. Swiftly.

Hank shot up onto his hands and butt blearily. "What?" he mumbled, rubbing a very sleep heavy face."I didn't hear anything. Did I finally sleep through an alarm call here?"

"Not exactly.." said Marco after a pause.

"No, wait a minute, Marco, that isn't exactly true, now is it? Cap, for a few minutes there, we thought you were one." Kelly said in exasperation.

Cap's eyes squinted in a don't-you-go-kidding-with-me look. Then he noticed the oxygen apparatus by his bedside and the cuff still wrapped around his arm. "What's this all about? Are you playing some kind of joke on me,  
Chet?"

"Wish he was, Cap." Gage said, rubbing his face. "We all think you got a little problem coming out that needs you to start paying attention to it. It also explains why you've been feeling so tired lately. Just listen to this."  
said Johnny, rewinding and playing back the tape for Hank to hear.

The captain's face fell from embarrassment to actual horror when he heard himself stop snoring so disturbingly for so long. Henry's quiet moans in the background only increased his fright. "That was me?  
J*sus!" he sat up a little straighter, hugging his knees. "I sound like I'm dying. No wonder you guys dragged that in here." he said, jerking a thumb at the resuscitator apparatus next to him. Then he blinked as he absently calmed an overjoyed Henry with a few pets. "Uh.. Why am I doing that kind of thing?" he said, flipping off the tape with a shudder.

Roy sighed, folding his fingers on the bed. "Have you ever heard of sleep apnea, Cap?"

"Yeah, isn't that what people develop when they get a little too overweight?"  
Hank guessed nervously, coughing. He was a still a little uncomfortable with everyone staring at him like they were still doing in serious concern.

DeSoto shrugged. "Deviated septums, enlarged tonsils, abnormal REM cycles, sleep ailments..any number of things can bring it out if one has a tendency for it."

"Well,.well.. uh.. What's a guy supposed to do about it in the meantime?  
Is it dangerous?"

"For you, not yet." said DeSoto. "You don't develop cyanosis when you quit breathing because your body fights back and starts it up again before even a minute goes by."

"But you probably never get a chance to hit REM sleep, Cap, before you're half jolted awake enough to fix your own airway by harder snoring. I'll just bet you can't remember the last time you dreamed about anything. How could you? You never get into that state which allows it." Gage said,  
rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

"Sure I do. I last dreamed about..." he broke off, rubbing burning eyes. "Well,  
I'm sure I dreamed something last week.. or was it last month?" he sighed in confusion. Then he sagged back onto his pillow and peeled the BP cuff off his arm. "I'm too tired to think about it any more, guys. Me with sleep apnea?  
I just can't believe it.. I mean, well,...why doesn't my wife notice this? We sleep together in the same bed."

"Maybe she's just a sound sleeper." Roy suggested.

Cap made a face.

"It might be true you know. Most likely, your dog'd notice things before she would.  
Because he isn't so habituated. I mean, that's what happened to us, with Henry. He's the one who woke us all up to check you out in the first place." said Johnny.

"He did?"

The rest of the guys nodded.

Then Chet said. "We thought you had gone into the office again to study. Just imagine our fright when we found you still in bed, not moving. You scared the h*ll outta Marco here."

"Sorry, Marco." Cap winced. "I didn't realize."

"Well, now you do. You should schedule an appointment with a doctor in a sleep lab a.s.a.p." said Roy firmly.

"Oh, now, don't go starting that go see a doctor business up with me again."  
Hank stiffened.

"Do you like feeling tired all the time?" Johnny insisted, getting frustrated instantly. "Sooner or later, your fatigue's gonna start effecting your job, Cap. And quite, frankly,  
I don't think Headquarters is gonna be too keen on letting you get a chief's spot while still suffering from uncontrolled night apnea."

Cap seemed to shrink in his underwear. "What do I do in the meantime..?" he whispered.  
"I'm so tired tonight, I - I, I can't even think straight anymore." he said, his lower lip quivering with an uncharacteristic waver. "And we still have a full day to get through tomorrow."

Gage nodded at Roy knowingly, until DeSoto said, "We can do this, Hank." and he handed Stanley a plastic oxygen mask. "Just for tonight. Setting the regulator at half a liter a minute should get you through until dawn without another episode. When you're fully rested in the morning, we'll talk about it some more then, ok?"

"I can't use this. I'll look stupid having to explain things when A-shift sees a discrepancy in oxygen tank usage in the equipment logbook in a day or two."

"So?" shrugged Gage. "We can cover for ya. I know at least one intern who owes me a favor for letting him go on a ride along. We can bring your emptys to Rampart in the squad and I can have him fill them up there each day until you finally get evaluated and treated."

"You don't have to do that for me." Hank sighed. "I - I can always stand up to them on A-shift, and, and- and be evasive. I am a captain after all."

"Yeah, but why risk such a glowing record as one by lying to another shift at your own station. That won't wash over well with McConnike once he finds out. And find out he will once Brice figures things out about what we're doing on our end." Roy told him.

Cap couldn't say anything else as a huge yawn threatened to crack his jaw in two. Henry yawned right after him, and curled up on his stomach with a worry releasing sigh.

Gage just ended the conversation by turning on the oxygen and hooking it up. "Here. Go to sleep already. Once you are, I'll sneak back over here and turn the recorder back on to see how the bumped up oxygen helps ya.  
The doctors will wanna know what makes it better and how much. The tape'll tell them."

"I can't sleep now! Not with knowing about this.." protested Cap.  
His body immediately refuted that statement into a lie by making Hank yawn again.

"Oh, yes, you can." chuckled Stoker. "Come on, roll over or I'll go call Dixie to come to the stationhouse just to tuck you in."

"Yes, mother.." growled Cap through the mask he set reluctantly onto his face. He turned away from everybody and curled his arms around himself as he got comfortable on his left side. "Pretend this never happened, ok?  
I'm embarrassed enough as it is."

The gang respected that and turned off the lights. They all laid down to sleep again, except for Gage who sat indian style on top of his blankets,  
waiting for the moment to switch the recording machine back on.

Softly, he whispered. "You take good care of him, Henry. Woof when he's asleep for me, ok? I can't see him very well from over here."

Henry sneezed. Johnny took that as a yes for his answer.

Then Gage turned towards the window to pass the time and he let the sight of the slowly rising moon fill his eyes.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photos: None. *  
From: "Cory Anda" andacory... Date: Sun Feb 26, 2006 5:34 pm Subject: Start of the Day.

It was five fifty six a.m. Station 51's kitchen was in full chaos mode.

The gang, except the still slumbering Cap, had unspokenly agreed sometime in the night to KP without him. Stoker took the brunt of egg frying while the others juggled carefully contrived waffle searing and general mayhem with the bacon.

Johnny rubbed his nose as he began to set the table for all the food. "Man, are we lucky no calls have come in.  
Cap's still sleeping like baby in there." he chuckled. "And before you ask, Roy, yes, I made sure that he's not tangled up in tubing."

Roy looked at his watch. "At least that worked some. I heard second part of his sleeping tape while shaving. Do you think we should disable the overhead in the bunkroom so he gets in a little more pillow work? L.A.'s morning communications check is due in four minutes."

Johnny opened his mouth, gesturing with a fork.

"Noooo wayyy, Gage. Don't do it. " interrupted Chet. "Do you really wanna face Hank's wrath once he learns he actually lived through one of his worst Captain's fears? You heard him last night. He never wants to wake up to the day he misses hearing a call. Even if it is just the usual county a.m. wake up tones."

Stoker was mischievious. "Why not? Let's go ahead and live dangerously."

Gage snorted in laughter. "No thanks. I think what we already do for all our jobs is excitement enough. So,.." he said turning around a chair at the table so he could butt perch on its highback edge with his shoes planted on the seat. "What's gonna be the gameplan for getting him into Rampart for a sleep study test?"

Chet shrugged. "We could always hook part of a ceiling on an extinguished fire call down on top of him when he's not looking.  
You know, just to wing him a little bit into a precautionary ambulance trip.  
That way, Brackett can get his meaty claws locked onto him a little easier."

Roy smiled. "That'd be attempted murder charges, Chet." he kidded. "At the very least. But I don't think we're gonna have to get quite so drastic getting him in to see a doc about his apnea. That tape did all the scaring work for us."

"Nah, I'll believe it when I see it." Chet said, stealing a bacon strip off the sizzling grill. He burned his fingers on it. "Ouch!"

"What a dummy." said Marco, throwing him a wet towel. "Why don't you wait for your food like the rest of us?"

"I'm used to pilfering. That's how I survived growing up competing with my much older big sister." Kelly replied.

"What'd your parents do? Starve you two?" asked Gage incredulously.

"No, we both like drumsticks. And after dad got his there was only one left to grab. I got good at it." said Chet.

"Boy, don't I know that. I'm still missing yesterday's potatoes."  
Gage mumbled.

"I'll make some more just for you at lunch later on today. Deal?" Kelly said, running his seared fingers under the tap. Then he shook his head. "Man I never thought I'd see the day where I renegged on a food snatch. Mark it as a landmark moment everybody."

No one did.

Then Stoker did a Radar O'Reilly. "Wait for it. Not for us.."

##Rrawww OOO EEeeeeeeo.#### said the SCU tones. ##This is L.A. testing with Stations, 24, 99, 18, 110, 8 and 51. Your time check is now 0700.## declared the speaker grill.

A minute later, they all heard the clattering of the oxygen apparatus as Cap put it away back into the squad's gear stow.

Hank soon shuffled in and sat down, fully dressed in uniform.  
He looked self conscious for only a moment, thinking about what had happened to him in the night but then he said, "I put the empty tank away and covered the top of it with a biobag so you guys won't accidentally grab it on a medical call." he said to Roy and Johnny.

"Thanks, Cap." said Roy, not looking up intentionally from his folded newspaper.

Then Gage neatly changed the subject. "So, who's ready for the Fireman's Ball? I got my tux rented."

Marco smiled. "I am. My mother's gonna pick it up for me today from the rental place at one since I'm working."

"That was nice of her." said Cap. "Wish my wife would pick up mine."

Chet frowned. "What's wrong with the one you wore at your brother's wedding? I thought that one looked just fine, Cap."

"The wife doesn't like gray." shrugged Cap, dishing out some peaches from the large can opened on the table into his bowl.  
"She says it'll clash with everything she's got in the closet."

"Well, there's no accounting for taste these days." said Chet "I think she just doesn't realize the impeccable fashion sense you possess, Cap."

Cap set down his spoon. "Are you saying that to try and butter me up into helping you study for the captain's test?"

"Yes." said Gage.

"Shut up, Gage." said Chet with no sting. "I'm brown nosing here."

"It's not gonna work.." Johnny said relentlessly. "Cap doesn't like that kind of thing."

"I don't like fake sentiment either, Johnny. So don't buddy up to me by reverse association. I'm onto you as well. If you want help studying, the same resuscitation challenge's waiting for you."  
he said.

"No thanks. I know my own abilities with that and how good a student I make while studying on my own."

"I'll vouch for that." said Roy. "He did graduate paramedic class at the top of the pile."

"Who's side are you on, Roy?" Kelly wondered sarcastically.

"His." DeSoto said, pointing at Johnny while chewing without breaking off from his reading. "He's the better man for the possible captaincy here."

"What makes you say that?" asked Cap in amusement to Chet's chagrin.

"Maybe it's because I know him so well. Anybody with bad habits as transparent as his has gotta have something going for him inside any command chain. Any men who find themselves under him will see right through those and automatically learn the good habits."

"Thanks a lot for the personality profile, Pal." Johnny told Roy. "If that's true, then how do you explain him?" And he jerked a thumb at the pondering Chet.

Stoker did another precog. "This one's us..." he warned.

Then Henry barked.

The gang got to their feet, abandoning breakfast.

"Rrawww OOO EEeeeeeeo." said the SCU tones.  
##Station 51. Unknown type rescue. 1457 Marx Way. 1457 Marx Way. Cross street. Jefferson St. Time out : 0709.##

Cap muttered as he pulled on his turnout coat. "That sounds like a house address."

"It is.." said Stoker, fingering the wall map for a route trace. "It's in the West Carson neighborhood by the ballpark."

The station rolled out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Photo: Cap getting on suspenders and trunks.

Photo: Stoker and Chet eating.

Photo: Gage worried and listening to Roy on squad bumper.

Photo: The tones speaker.

Photo: Stoker pulling out of the bay at the wheel of Engine 51.

Photo: Both the engine and squad rolling down the highway.

*  
From: Patti or Jeff or Cassidy Date: Wed Mar 1, 2006 11:02 pm Subject: Sleep Eternal... Roy and Johnny were two minutes into the trip when Johnny said,  
"Man, I got a real bad feeling about this one." he said, rubbing his lips nervously. "Hair's prickling on the back of my neck."

"Are you sure it isn't because of the word 'unknown' being used on a call. That's all it takes for me. It's only slightly better than responding to a domestic disturbance and getting there before any police arrive." Roy said, gripping the steering wheel.

"It's more than that, Roy. I haven't felt like this since I looked down and realized that it was my best friend lying in pieces on the side of the road in a patrolman's uniform."

"You're just tired, that's all. We did have a restless night thinking about Cap and how to best monitor him last night." Roy smiled in an attempt to cheer him. "I saw the way you were still watching him when I got up this morning. You didn't have to do that. He was just fine. And so are you right now."

"Then why do I feel like I have to throw up?" Gage asked with a little fear. "A lack of sleep doesn't explain that away at all."

The two said nothing while Roy simultaneously kept tabs on the engine speeding at a safe distance behind them and the turns they were carefully taking as Johnny directed their route by pointing, nervously.

An unwelcome tension began to permeate the squad.

-  
Captain Stanley tried to ease the anxiety quotient on their rescue call. He contacted Headquarters. "L.A., This is engine 51."

##Go ahead, Engine 51.##

"Do you have any more information regarding the nature of our current call?"

##Engine 51. Negative. Your response was designated as unknown when the caller left the operator on an open line. However, I've notified the police. A squad car is responding to the same address. Their approximate ETA is two and a half minutes.##

"10-4, L.A. Engine 51 out. Will advise upon arrival." sighed Hank.

He shook his head at Stoker to share mutual frustration while the engineer skillfully maneuvered the Ward through the busy traffic surrounding them.

Dawn had burned away into full daylight when there was no more distance or time left for which they had to wait. Cap saw the squad jam its tires up against the curb and park there. As protocol demanded, they didn't immediately get out. Instead, they watched and listened for a response from inside the house reacting to the sounds of their sirens.

But Stoker's blasting airhorn summoned no one's face to either window by the door when they turned them all off to listen.

Just then, Vince pulled up in his squad car and drew out his gun. "Wait right there until I check it out, boys.." he said. "Turn down your radio scanner for a minute, all right?"

Hank nodded and gestured a glove at Mike to lower the volume quickly. Then everybody got out on the street side of their vehicles.

They watched as Howard hugged the bushes, keeping under close concealment as he moved towards the house's white painted porch. He found the front door open and went inside, his gun preceding him.

Peering around the engine's fender, Cap held the others back and got on his HT. "Engine 51, to squad 51. Stay behind the squad until we get word from Vince to follow. Get all the gear you can reach over there on that side of the truck only.." he ordered.

##HT 51, to Engine 51. We're standing by.## said Gage into his own HT with every syllable of his answer showing how unhappy he was at having to freeze in place and not act on anything. He smacked a frustrated glove against the mirror frame of the driver's door where he was crouched next to Roy.

"Easy." said DeSoto. "We'll get in there and at an answer soon enough. You know how this works."

Johnny ignored him and pulled the resuscitator apparatus even closer to his side.

Then, a shadow appeared in the doorway. It was Vince, waving them in.

L.A.'s voice erupted over the loud speakers of both trucks and all their walkie talkies. ##Station 51. LAPD reports a child call with a mother in attendance.##

"10-4, dispatch an ambulance times one to our location as soon as possible." confirmed Hank over the radio. "We've no fire."

##Engine 51.##

"Go..guys.. Move it." Cap said unnecessarily to the others as he helped carry the EKG monitor and defibrillator while they gathered the rest of the squad's medical equipment and followed the rushing paramedics.

Vince said. "The baby's not breathing. But mom seems to have been trained well enough. She's doing some pretty good CPR on her."

Without another word, the gang entered the house and got into the bedroom Vince indicated.

It was a sheer shock when the mother looked up in almost blind terror. "Roy? Johnny?" she whispered hoarsely. "What took you so long? I...can't get ..my daughter going anymore." she sobbed through stringy sweat soaked hair.

Gage and DeSoto startled as they ran to the bed when Chet said something that explained the mother's odd familiarity towards them. "Karen Overstreet?"

It was the paramedic trainee who had saved Roy's life the day he got electrocuted and fell off of a rooftop two years ago.

Captain Stanley immediately grabbed her shoulders. "Hand her over to them, Karen. Let them see her." he told her firmly, pulling her hands away from a small, limp infant who was only weeks old from where she lay on the blanket rumpled bed. "They can help her now."

"No!!" she said, trying to pull her daughter back. Vince got her away from the firefighters and gently tripped her leg so she would fall seated into a nearby chair. "Jennifer..?!" Karen screamed, trying to get up again. She was restrained by both Marco and Vince instantly. "Let me go!.."

Roy immediately saw the tiny child's bluish color and he placed a stethoscope over the baby's chest. He shook his head at Johnny and quickly started manual CPR, nodding to the others to get out the neonate resuscitation gear while he gave the baby careful breaths through his lips and restarted light compressions using his thumbs while he worked the baby on top of the defibrillator case.

There would be no using that equipment, Johnny knew. The child's body size was far too small to handle even its lowest shock setting.

Gage lowered his voice to calm her when Karen finally stopped fighting Vince and Lopez's grip and giving into hysterics. "Karen.. Karen. We're getting her on some oxygen right now." he said, watching Cap and Chet getting some set up and flowing into a newborn's ambu bag. "You gotta tell us all you know about what's happened. How long do you think she was down without a pulse before you found her?" he asked, holding her arms tightly by the shoulders.

"I don't know. I don't know.." Karen cried, only being able to focus now on the floor in front of her bare feet.

Gage gripped her chin and forced it up until she met his eyes.

"Johnny, I'm so scared..." she gasped, sucking in a ragged breath.

"Easy, Karen. We're here now. It's ok to be frightened. But you gotta guess what time was it when you first noticed that your baby was in trouble." Gage told her firmly.

A second startling sight above them almost dragged his attention away from Karen when his eyes spotted the paramedic's certificate hanging on a frame and a medal of valor for fire services rendered, perched in a case next to it on a bookshelf. ::Well, I'll be, she made it through the program and then some.:: he thought. He fought and regained his focus in seconds.

Overstreet trembled, grabbing onto Johnny's gripping hand with both of her trembling ones."She was asleep, that's all.  
Jeff just left for work. I.. uh, it was ..then was six. He always leaves at six." she said, in fear.

Johnny soothed her. "Tell me more. Then I gotta get over there to help Roy out with her."

Karen just about fell apart, trying to keep herself talking.  
"Ok..*gasp* ..ok.. I think the time was 2:00 a.m. when Jeff came to bed. I don t know exactly at what time I awoke, but I reached for Jenny. Just something that I always do. I reach out and touch my children when they're sleeping with me. I was groggy but she felt so cool. I thought she had just kicked the covers off. So I went to reposition her and snuggle her up against me. When I did, I could tell something was wrong. She was so limp..." she sobbed. "Oh, Johnny,.. I remember so many things about that moment. Her little face was turned in toward the sheet, but I don t actually know if it was that way before I started to reposition her or if my repositioning did that. When I first reached out to rearrange her I didn t have my eyes open. I scooped Jenny up, turned the light on and I said, 'Jenny's cold... Jeff?' But he had already left."

"After six am? Or was it later? Your call reached us at 0709, Karen." Hank asked from where he crouched over the bed, watching Chet work the bag while he himself did CPR with his thumbs over the breastbone, his large hands encircling Jennifer's tiny chest. "It's important for the doctors to know--"

"Don't you think I know that!" she screamed. "You guys supposedly taught me everything I know." she cried bitterly. "You made me into one of you and I went kicking and fighting all the way!"

The firefighters fell silent, working only for the child.

Stoker spoke up softly while he set up the biophone. "Karen, we're not going to lie to you. It's bad, but she may still have a chance. We have to find out whether or not Jennifer may be a victim of SIDS or not, in order to treat her more effectively."

But Overstreet was beyond listening. She mumbled. "I remembered that your station's rescue squad was less than a mile from my house, so I dialed the operator and I told her.. 'Oh, G*d! Please hurry!.' They've got to come. I said to myself. They've got to come fast..." she sobbed, rocking her face against her knees. "Then I don't remember anything, guys. I can't even remember now.."  
she cried, fresh tears re-staining her face.

Vince took a quilt off of a love seat and covered her up. "I'll go call mobile crisis from the hotline for her to meet us at the hospital." he offered. "I'll try to track down Jeff, too. Won't be hard. Looks like she's married." he said, tucking in Karen's left hand under the blanket where she sat dazed and rocking and twisting the wedding band on her finger numbly.

"Mike, keep an eye on her. Watch her for further signs of shock after you're through with your initial hail to Rampart." Hank ordered.

Stoker hurried to obey.

Vince had a million thoughts running through his head. ::Observe the scene. Take note of what was moved and how. The final determination of SIDS as the cause of the baby's problem will be based on possible evidence at the scene.:: he chided to himself. ::Just because we're hastening to resuscitate the infant, evidence can easily be destroyed and valuable information lost. Document what you found when you arrived; it may prove invaluable later. Remember the beginning? We needed to move the patient, and a few other things in the room, like the mother. Note it! Then go out and lock your car. You're going with them. But first, clean up the mess being made. Last thing this mother needs are reminders of today when she returns back home again.::

Karen spoke up as she felt Johnny leave her side for the bed. "ALTE! She's got ALTE..It's come three times before." she gushed, struggling to stop shivering.

"Got it.." said Johnny as he took the phone from Mike. He spoke softly to the doctor who had answered the call. "Rampart, this is Squad 51."

##Go, ahead, 51.## replied Joe Early.

"Rampart we have a female infant less than eight weeks, down. She has a history of multiple apparent life-threatening event incidences. Uh, the mother was performing effective first aid upon our arrival. We've no vital signs,  
but there isn't clear evidence ruling in algor mortis. Livor mortis is not apparent either. CPR on one hundred 02 is in progress." Gage told him.

##10-4, 51. Start an I.V. of Ringer's Lactate, O.S and give a 5 ml/kg fluid bolus. Make sure you angle your needle to avoid damaging the epiphyseal plate. Establish an endotrachael airway and deliver by intraosseous infusion: 0.01 mg/kg of 1:1,000 solution. If there's no response in three minutes, make your second and subsequent doses 0.1 mg/kg of 1:1,000 solution. Repeat every 3-5 minutes. Get me a cardiac reading from more than one lead. Administer sodium bicarb as a one time bolus -1 of an 8.4% solution if you're absolutely sure the child is being effectively ventilated or paradoxical intracellular acidosis will result. Transport as soon as possible continuing full resuscitation en route.## said Joe.

Gage repeated the orders he had written down. He eyeballed Roy.  
"Epi, .01 of 1:1,000 through her tibia, Roy. I'll get her ET in a sec after Rampart's got her half minute strip. Bolus in an 8.4% solution bicarb neonate O.S."

The paramedics tried not to look at the absolutely flat asystole scrolling across the screen as the tube threaded down too easily. Cap resumed compressions while Kelly ventilated and the paramedics delivered all their death correcting medications in rapid sequence.

Stoker ran back in with a KED short board and Jennifer was transferred onto that and physically bandaged to it using soft gauze rollers by her head, upper legs and armpits without hindering her CPR.

Karen followed them out the door and jumped into the passenger side of the Mayfair's work door. She took to the rider bench immediately and Vince sat with her with Mike Stoker on the other side. They didn't stop her from holding Jennifer's hand and made ample room for her while they worked fast to secure fluid lines, cardiac wires and oxygen over the small baby.

Chet traded his ventilating spot at the baby's head with the non-driving ambulance attendant. "Do your best." he whispered in his ear. "We know the mother."

Then he was gone to drive the squad in, with Marco following, driving the engine. Roy relieved Cap from his two fingered compressions and watched as Cap got out of the ambulance and closed the doors between them. Two slaps came soon afterwards and then the Mayfair took off code three.

Hank Stanley's lanky form dwindled in the window to a tan spot on gray asphalt. He was the very picture of the grief they all felt starting to rip through the tenderest parts of their souls.

Roy didn't know at what point Karen quit listening to them when she realized that her daughter was going to die. ::She's knows we're not going to be able to save her.:: he thought.

-  
At the hospital, Karen Overstreet sat in the waiting room,  
waiting. Rocking, praying, bargaining with God. ::It didn't work.:: a small voice with no sound shouted at her.

She remembered few things of the ride in to Rampart. The corner streetlight was backed up where she normally turned at with patients, while she was working her station shifts. ::That driver took a different route to get us here.  
Working in EMS, we know lots of short cuts.:: she thought numbly.

She watched as a very concerned, professionally smiling Dixie tried to reach her husband who worked sixty miles away to tell him that Jennifer had been taken in to the hospital.

::Wasn't I just grand? When we pulled up at the entrance I sure ran in the ER entrance like I owned the place.:: Karen's mind started crying. ::I have to get to Jennifer soon, she's probably so scared. I have to see those big blue eyes light up at me.:: Overstreet blew her nose. Then she looked up and let the quilt from home drop from her shoulders. ::That police officer's taking my hand.::

Then Karen knew she was in real trouble. Two other doctors flanked her sides and she remembered someone touching her elbow as they told her in the ER hallway that Jennifer didn't make it. Karen saw a tech come out of the room at that moment with a grim look on his face carrying a pediatric cardiac pacer tray. It still had the blinking battery unit on it.

::Oh G*d they had to heart stab my little baby!:: Karen started crying softly.  
"I have to see her! This can't be real. I promise I won't start screaming or faint."  
she told them.

Overstreet could feel that her daughter was gone but she didn't believe it. She watched with detachment as they led her into the nurses' lounge and told her that she could call anyone she needed to. There were others in the room that she recognized as the hospital chaplain, and the family crisis counselor from the ninth floor.

Karen ignored Dixie as she gripped the red phone. "Jeff, I need you here, now."

##False alarm, huh?## asked Mr. Overstreet.

Karen couldn't reply, his statement had caused the second biggest blow to her soul in as many minutes.

A small whimper trickled from her lips as tears blinded her. "What should I say?" Karen asked the chaplain.

##Just tell me, Karen.## demanded Jeff, growing alarmed.

Mrs. Overstreet did very quickly and she heard and felt Jeff falling to the ground to scream in pain through the phone. At that moment Karen thought. ::I want to launch the rescue helicopter to go and get him.:: But out loud she said, "Please don't let him drive in such an upset condition." she told them all. Her own voice sounded so calm in her ears, that it amazed her. "He'll just hurt himself more." she said,  
hanging up the phone receiver.

Vince replied. "I'll go get him, ma'am, if you'll give me the address."

Numbly, Karen handed it to him from her purse. "Thank you." she told him as he left. Karen didn't think she could breathe another minute being so far away from her husband even though she was surrounded by two doctors,  
so she desperately started talking again. "What exactly did you do for Jennifer? I'm....trying to reconstruct what happened. You see, I just completed a neonatal resuscitation course a few weeks ago and I want to make sure .." her face twisted in pain as the white hot grief she had prevented knotted up once more in her throat.."that you did everything correct."  
The tears came then, unrelenting.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roy and Johnny and Cap went into the room with Karen. The police officer, Vince Howard, was guarding her door.

The baby was so tiny ...laying on the stretcher in the ER.

Dixie handed Jennifer to Karen and they watched her sink to the floor rocking her baby in her arms. Within moments, the chaplain entered the room with Jeff Overstreet and he started praying with and for all three of them.

Roy's face was a mask of pain.  
::My insides are tearing apart. I've never in my life hurt so much as holding that baby s lifeless body.:: he thought looking at her.

Jennifer's eyes were ever so slightly open and she was still pinkish; just a tinge of blue at her eyes and lips.

Karen's mind wailed. "Oh, I want to look at her tummy, arms, back, and everything. But I'm so scared. I'm scared that she won't look the way that she should. I want to change her diaper." She didn't. "I want to nurse her!" She couldn t.

Johnny saw her shrivel and felt horrible, too. ::So much physical pain comes with emotional pain. And there's not a d*mned thing I can do about it.:: he thought. Then he went to crouch down next to Karen, just to be near in support. Gently, he combed a few fingers through Jennifer's hair to neaten it with a soft caress.

Cap turned quickly away and had to leave the room before it became too much for him to bear.

Karen's mind raced. "Why couldn t it have been me?! What did or didn't I do?!"  
she demanded of Jeff and the chaplain and Dixie. Now it was guilt's turn to rule her. "I just want to hold her forever. I don't want to see death come!" she sobbed.  
"Please bring her back. Please. Oh, Jennifer... I'm so sorry...." she said, flooding her infant daughter's still face with kisses.  
Time both crept and sped by for Karen. Jeff had left the hospital for a little while because he wanted to go home and hold his two older daughters and get them out of school.

Karen understood that, but knew, too, that she couldn't leave Jennifer..

Mrs. Overstreet had to go several times to the bathroom but didn't want to let go of Jennifer, "I don't want her to be lonely." she sniffed.

Roy offered to hold Jennifer while she went.

Gage knew it took guts for him to be there because he knew he had a red headed little boy at home. The same red hair as Jennifer's.

When Karen's husband returned to the hospital, Jeff Overstreet said, "The girls are waiting. They want to know what happened and they're asking me if Jennifer had to have a shot." Breaking down, Karen and her husband sagged into each others arms around their silent baby.

Ten minutes later, holding hands tightly, they left with their infant child to tell them together, leaving the chaplain alone with the firefighters and Dixie.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was after 10:00 a.m. when the medical examiner came to get Jennifer's body for the autopsy.

Karen Overstreet had words to share with him.  
"I can tell you that fourteen hours of hard labor is nothing compared to the pain we feel right now, doctor. I don't want to give Jennifer up, but we both want to know what happened to take our baby girl away from us. She was so healthy. She....she was current on all her immunizations, she always slept on her back and is...was..breast fed. Every precaution the experts advise you of, we followed. And it still didn't help." said Karen leadenly with a low anger.

But her hands were soft as she touched her daughter for the last time.

"I promise, I'll find the answer for you." said the M.E, taking the blanketed bundle.

Then he and little Jennifer, were gone.

------------------------------------------------------------------

The Overstreets slept very little for the next week. Bit by bit,  
details came back to them.

Karen mulled over yet another untasted cup of tea. ::I still have problems sleeping now a month later. I notified family and friends. I remember one of the firemen, Chet Kelly, the prankster, telling me the news hit him so hard he wanted to puke. That coming from a fireman who is trained to remain calm in most fiercesome of situations, seemed appropriate and were just the right words to describe that time. Was it the day of the funeral that I found out Jennifer died from SIDS? In a small way, it's a relief because I don't think I could handle her death occurring due to accidental abuse or neglect coming from one of us.::

There had been three ambulances and Engine 51 at baby Jennifer Overstreet's funeral. The entire fire station had turned out in uniform.

Jeff commented. "The town must think a fireman had died."

Karen smiled. "I carried Jennifer all through paramedic school and she was born in between station clinicals. G*d, what those station boys must think of me. Then, I was a real b*tch. In a way, I think a paramedic did die."

Jeff Overstreet laughed out loud. "Really.."

Karen slapped his arm and hugged her daughters closer to herself.  
"Think about it, honey. Jenny frequently attended class with me, and her daddy kept her on the days I had clinicals. She probably knew more about para-medicine than I do. She changed our lives, Jeff. She drew us closer together, made the world a wonderful, exciting place in vibrant colors. And now, it seems like everything is in black and white and fuzzy. But I know someday there will be color again and clarity, but that's still a long way down the road."

"We'll all be happy again, Karen. I promise you that." said Jeff with tears in his eyes. He kissed her head tenderly.

Karen sighed sadly. "She was with me and I was with her.. She is not with me anymore, but there is such a part of me that is still there,  
Jeff, where we were."

After the funeral, at home, Jeff talked with the medical examiner over the phone.

The doctor replied, "If I were to give you my opinion on what happened to Jennifer, it is that her heart just stopped, Mr. Overstreet."

Later that night, Fallon, Karen's youngest said, as she was falling asleep, "Jennifer knew she was going to die, Mommy.  
She talked to God about it. She just had something inside of her that went up and down...and up and down ...and up ...and down.. and then it stopped."

Karen's sadness almost burst out of her chest. But then her mind smothered it absolutely with a question. ::Now, how did my five year old see that in Jenny?::

The answer came on the soft wind blowing in from the lacy window. ::Because they were bonded together, more deeply in love by their thoughts, than later spoken words could've ever hoped to achieve.::

-  
It had been a grueling week, and Cap still hadn't gone in to get evaluated in a sleep lab for his bad snoring problem. So one afternoon, Roy and Johnny and the rest of the gang decided to stick him to it with a little artful persuasion in a joint effort.

They started by discussing the emotionally charged atmosphere surrounding all SIDS calls like Jennifer Overstreet's.

"Handling the scene in such a case involves much more than our normal protocols, Cap." said Johnny passionately. "I don't think we have the resources in place yet to cope with that."

"How do you mean?" asked Cap, sipping his coffee thoughtfully.

Roy spoke up, quickly. "Some in EMS do not realize that when we treat a patient, we treat the whole family."

"Yeah, amen to that, brother." said Chet ruefully. "Boy, did I learn about that. Never leave a grieving family alone without emotional support after the death of a child."

Cap began to look uncomfortable.

"What's the matter, Cap?" asked Johnny. "Thinking about Karen's baby again?"

"No, I was thinking about what killed her. This SIDS.. uh, do adults ever get that?" he asked, thinking about his apnea.

Roy was about to answer when Johnny stopped him with a touch on the foot with his heel. Gage put on a straight face. "Well, the experts don't rightly know, Cap. Uh,.. you see, not a whole lot of money ever makes it in committee to devote itself to that topic of study."

Roy caught on instantly. "Yeah, the only way to find out for sure is to study people who are at risk for that sort of thing." he said vaguely.

"Meaning...people who're like.....me?"

The gang all disassembled and stared at different parts of the room without giving away the whole pot of beans. No one said a single word.

Finally, Cap sighed and said, "Ok, Gage. Gimmee the phone and what's the number?"

Roy and Johnny both spoke up quickly.

"Five, five..uh." stuttered DeSoto.

"Five five four...three. " parroted Gage.  
"No Roy, you tell him. I'm gonna go stow Cap's latest drained oxygen tank in the side squad compartment and out of the front cab. If we're getting him to Rampart to get sleep evaluated this afternoon,.." Gage said happily. "..we're gonna need to make room if we're taking him in ourselves."

"So soon?" Cap gaped.

"Yeah, why not?" counted Roy. "The sooner the better." he glared back.

The rest of the gang muttered pretty much the same thing in various shades of emotions.

"Ok, guess I've been out maneuvered and out numbered."  
Hank told them. "But I wouldn't count on Rampart having any bed space open for me since it's already Saturday. I might not even get in today.."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fifty minutes later, Cap was face to face with Dr. Brackett and Joe Early. And they were both smiling.

Hank was asking plenty of questions, still feeling like a cold germ under the microscope. "What is a polysomnogram?"

Joe warmed up to the subject. "Sleep apnea is diagnosed using a special test called a polysomnography. Polysomnography involves sleeping overnight with various leads or wires attached to your head, face, chest and legs. Stretchy bands are placed around your chest and stomach to detect breathing effort. Polysomnography testing is usually carried out overnight in order to get a polysomnogram reading. Or PSG." he answered.

Brackett continued. "All the leads will detect how you are breathing and sleeping. Leads and bands gather information to assist the doctor in making the diagnosis. A video camera assists the doctor or his tester in knowing your sleeping position.  
While you sleep, data is gathered about the number and length of apneas or other problems that disturb your sleep. The morning after such a test, we'd be able to explain the results of any PSG and suggest the best treatment."

"What's the catch?" Hank asked warily.

Brackett's cheek twitched, when he realized that he would have to share a less than popular factual detail about the apnea lab. "In some sleep disorder centers, a "split night" study is done when continuous positive airway pressure (C.P.A.P.) is placed on you at some point during the night. The tester explains before you go to sleep what will happen and fits the mask before the test begins."

"Wait a minute! Johnny, Roy, you didn't say I'd have to wear another mask for all this monkey business. I'm getting outta--"

"Now Cap.. hear them out. It's not as bad as you think." Gage started up, putting his hand square against his chest to stop him.

"He's right, captain." said Brackett. "That kind of testing is not bad at all. During a test you will find that: None of the leads or wires hurt, you can sleep in any position, you can go to the bathroom, sleep is disturbed as little as possible by the test itself, and based on your test results your doctor may suggest lifestyle changes that can help with mild sleep apnea or treatment for a more moderate to severe type of condition."  
"Really, doc. I'm sure it's not the easy street you make it out to be or else it wouldn't cost eight hundred dollars to get yourself evaluated.." Cap scoffed right back.

DeSoto and Gage whistled in feigned shock, then started cackling.

Hank ignored them."I'm still not entirely convinced that the two of you are for me." he said looking back at the two doctors with abject ambivilence. Cap narrowed his eyes and got back on the exam table. "What's the worse case scenario, if- if- if.. I go ahead and listen to you guys?" he asked nervously.

"Come on, Cap. You're not terminal." chuckled Gage.

Cap made a face.

"....at least, not yet anyway.." added Roy with a hint of the devil.  
He disarmed Cap by winking at him.

"Quit teasing me!" roared Cap.  
"Quit teasing him.." roared Brackett at the same time.

Both men looked at each other and laughed.

"Now where were we?" asked Kel.

Joe told him.

"Ah, yes. Treatments for sleep apnea. There's the C.P.A.P. machine..." Brackett began. "While sleeping, the patient wears a plastic mask or nasal prongs connected to a positive pressure device with provisions for adjunct therapy with supplemental oxygen or humidification of inspired air. Positive air pressure is delivered through the nasal passage forming an air splint of the upper airway to provide air exchange during the patients sleep. Flow rates ranging from 20 to 60 L/min generate pressures of 2 to 20 cm H2O pressure. With monitoring by PSG, the pressure level is titrated to a level that restores airway potency, improves arterial oxygenation, and ensures uninterrupted sleep. Patients must be followed regularly to assess treatment efficacy and to verify compliance. Part-time or inconsistent use of the device does not adequately control OSA. The C.P.A.P's sure proved it's worth over recent years."

Cap's eyes started to cross in incomprehension. "Let's start that last bit from the beginning.. Excuse me,. a ..C.P.A.P?

"Uh, that's - Continuous Positive Airway Pressure." elaborated Joe.

"Thank you, doctor." bowed Kel graciously at Early.

"No problem, doctor. You're welcome." said Joe, equally charming.

"Would you two cut that out! You're talking about something that might potentially effect my life here. And I find it's no joking matter!" Hank yelled at them.

"Your life's already been effected if that tape we just heard is any good kind of indicator. Just ask your men here." Brackett shrugged blandly,  
crossing his arms together.

Both Roy and Johnny nodded vigorously, clamming up so they wouldn't say anything else that was offensive.

"Then there's always the dental devices,.."

"Soccer mouthguards.." hissed Roy helpfully.

"....the radio frequency procedure.."

"Melts your uvula.." Gage added sotto voce.

"...and other various kinds of surgery that makes throat structure corrections that either eases or eliminates sleep apnea entirely." Brackett concluded. "The most common one's called a U.P.P.P."

"Sounds complicated." Cap frowned. "What happens if I don't do anything at all? I mean, I've survived just fine for years with the condition so far without risking anything or anybody."

Gage and Roy both cleared their throats meaningfully.

"Well, almost fine." Hank amended under their less than subtle hinting.

"Hank," said Joe no nonsense.. "The results if left untreated: high blood pressure, " he ticked off on his silver ringed fingers,  
"heart problems, heart attack, stroke, car accidents and work-related accidents due to sleepiness, a poorer quality of life.  
Especially marital wise." he nodded seriously.

Brackett nodded in agreement, "Umm hmm and obstructive sleep apnea, O.S.A., patients, prior to diagnosis and treatment, use 2 times more health care resources than patients without O.S.A. because they usually have more doctor visits racked up because of nagging fatigue and lingering, unexplained pain-like symptoms."

Right then, the hospital chaplain played his trump card by coming in the door at the appropriate moment.

Cap took one look at him and just threw his hands up into the air.  
"Ok, here comes the speech. Lay it on me.." he said with fluffed up sarcasm.

Father O'Malley's eyes just twinkled. "This is for your charming wife.  
Remember it and share it with her, won't you?" Eh- hem.. Helping a partner with sleep apnea. Wife or husband, you can help your partner be successful with the treatment for sleep apnea. The following are a few ways to help: Reassure your partner that using C.P.A.P. does not affect how you feel about them or alter your view of them.

"Encourage your partner to keep up the treatment even though it s not always easy.

"Offer to attend meetings, support groups or doctor s appointments with your partner to learn more about sleep apnea.

"Enjoy your partner s extra energy by planning activities together. Support your partner s efforts to lose weight or exercise. "Marriage can be challenging at the best of times, but these same challenges can be overwhelming when trying to cope with a chronic disorder. It is common to become overburdened and exhausted and to get so wrapped up in our own problems that the disorder can begin to separate couples.

"The person with sleep apnea may feel alone and isolated - often feeling frustration and guilt that they may have caused marital disharmony by having Sleep Apnea. They may feel misunderstood, afraid and angry. It affects how they see themselves and their masculinity/femininity. Some get wrapped up in self-pity and begin to shut down from the world." said the chaplain passionately.

"Boy, I'll say if the bunkroom follies have been any indication.."  
said Gage loudly enough to be heard by all.

"The healthy spouse often shares similar feelings but from a different perspective. Some feel guilt for their own wellness or feel pity or resentment towards the spouse, and they take on more and more responsibility to compensate. Some feel anger at the disorder and the burden it has become in their lives. Some feel frightened and confused at the prospect of perhaps having to be the responsible, healthy care-giver in the relationship.

"Whatever couples may be feeling, the most important thing is to keep communication lines open. Involve your spouse in your feelings and challenge one another to be open and honest. Share your hurts and pains as well as your strengths. Be supportive to your spouse. Learn together about the disorder, and develop coping strategies to help you through rough times. Become involved in the disorder by showing compassion, concern and caring. Be kind to one another keeping in mind that no one requested this disorder to come into your lives. Remember to enjoy the important things in life like memories shared, time spent, and continue to dream and plan for the future adjusting to accommodate the disorder. Using the treatment for sleep apnea can relieve stress and tension and help both of you to relax and enjoy each other..."

Cap coughed out of a catatonic state. So did all the others. "That's it?  
Uh, I mean. That's it. I think I'll stay for...whatever test I need to do next."  
amended Cap leading wise. "Uh, that's if it's ok with the both of you two,  
docs."

Brackett jumped right on in, blinking out of his own mind fuzz. "Sure. First we'll have to determine how deprived you actually are from getting any rest. We'll test how fast and likely you are to dozing off or falling asleep in common everyday situations. Then we'll contrast those findings to how you feel when you're just feeling tired.  
To do this we run two studys, The Multiple Sleep Latency Test, the MSLT,  
which measures the speed of falling asleep and the second one, The Maintenance of Wakefulness Testing, the MWT, is a quantitative measurement to help a physician determine how long wakefulness can be maintained by the patient."

Gage piped up. "Oh, I see. How fast does he crash and how long can he fight it?"

"Exactly." Kel and Joe said at the same time.

"Whatever. Let's just get on with it, shall we?" Cap fidgetted as he rustled the sheets around his hospital gown restlessly.

Soon, he was counting sheep with the best of them.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, how'd it go?" asked Gage in the locker room a few days later as he and Roy walked in.

Cap was shaving in a mirror across the way, brushing on foam for the straight edge that he always liked to use. Strangely enough,  
he didn't turn around to chew them out for prying into his private affairs again.

"Hey, .. Cap.. you deaf or something? My partner thought he asked you a question here." Roy laughed.

"I heard ya. I'm....just busy.."

"Oh, yeah? Busy doing what?" Gage asked moving to a sink to go wash his hands clean of the shoe polish that he had just got done using.

Cap oddly angled away from him again, showing his two men only the back of his head in a careful contrivance.

While avoiding the paramedics, Hank forgot one crucial direction.  
The door they had arrived through.

In sailed Chet Kelly.

"OhmyG*d, Cap, you got a nose job.."

"He did what?!" snorted both Roy and Johnny incredulously.

Abandoning whatever they were doing, Roy and Johnny cornered Cap craftily and spun him around so they could all see.

Johnny started laughing. "It's true.." he breathed aloud. "Nice bandaid job. What'd they do? Correct a deviated septum?"

Hank's glare fell away and his shoulders, squared in anger, wilted. "Yep." he said simply.

Marco and Stoker had heard the shouting and had come to investigate all the hubbub.

"Say.. Cap...." said Lopez in admiration. "They did a nice job, fixing ya.."

Mike added more. "You may look and feel like Pinnocchio, but I'm sure I can rig something up with your helmet to hide your schnoz from the general public. Maybe one of those face plates that Hazmat wears all the time."

"Very funny." Hank said.

Henry waddled in right then, took one look at Cap, and ran out in a panic.

"Now don't start feeling more self conscious, Cap. He's just a dog."  
said Roy hurriedly.

"My feelings are crushed here." Hank said for real. "And it's gonna take about two months of me using a C.P.A.P. machine at home and here at the station while I heal inside before I'm deemed normal again by all the docs."  
"You're kidding.." sighed Kelly, his eyes going wide. "Gage, you know what this means, don't you?"

"No. What?" Gage asked, having lost interest in Cap's situation. He was concentrating completely on polishing his teeth with some Pepsodent.

"It means that I'm not getting promoted anywhere for another year." elaborated Hank meaningfully. "You can both kiss all your becoming a captain pipe dreams goodbye." And he left the room, laughing up a storm, for the coffee pot.

Chet didn't stay downtrodded for long. He started sighing in a haze at a private memory once he had re-found the ticket stub from the Fireman's Ball they had attended the day before in his shirt pocket.

"Are you still thinking about her?" Roy asked in irritation.

"And how..." answered Chet. "Gage did you see Dixie's dress? Man,  
guys were falling down all over the place. Including me."

"I wasn't." muttered Roy sharply. "I'm a happily married man."

"Suuurreee you are." Chet teased. "Bet you were thinking the same thing all the rest of us were the second she showed up at the top of that stairs landing. Woooweee..Dixie can sure be one hot babe when she sets her mind to it. I thought Brackett was gonna stumble down those stairs right after her for a second there. But Joe caught him nicely. Cap didn't you see her? Talk about your stunning night gowns. Hers was the mother of--"

"Nah, missed it. I must have been taking a nap." sighed Cap sadly, and he walked away.

FIN

Eligibility - Episode Thirty Emergency Theater Live ----------------------------------------------------

Photo: Stoker and Gage at a run with the gear from the squad.

Photo: Paramedic Karen Overstreet, crying.

Photo: A dead baby on a bed. (simulated)

Photo: Roy treating someone in a bedroom.

Photo: Gage, very sad, in a close up.

Photo: Karen, the trainee, smiling.

Photo: Roy and Johnny in the hallway at Rampart with bad news.

Photo: Cap asking, "What?" with an incredulous look.

Photo: Julie London in a knockout old time ball gown.

*  
Emergency Theater Live =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

ETL Hosts : Patti Keiper and Erin James in the United States

** Emergency Theater Live "Offstory" Email Address For Midi Music Requests and General Inquiries . Emergency Theater Live Homepage

.com/group/emergencytheaterlive Writer's Pre-Production Distribution Site

.com/emergencyfans Emergency Theater Live /Emergency Fans Unite at MySpace

ETL's Emergency Community Forum /

____________________________________

Mark VII Productions, NBC, and Universal owns all of Emergency! and its Characters. 2009 . All rights reserved.

=========================

***NOTE: All author writings submitted to the theater will be set free onto the web to reach as many readers as we can manage to find. Contributing to any ETL episode means that has permission to publish your work in the manner presented here on this website and on text versions of the stories on other sites. All web audience writers or volunteer consultants and their corresponding emails will be duly recorded and left in place within each show's music and imaged airing episode, pointing out that fan or professional EMS personnel's creative contribution. Theater Host- Emergency Theater Live! .. 


End file.
